West Bengal, 3rd November: Expecting fresh directives from the Calcutta High Court on the burning of crackers during Diwali. Sabyasachi Chatterjee Lawyer High Court explains the petition filed in High Court by saying that they are requesting Court to put the containment zone to all the puja pandals for the upcoming festive season. Also, put a ban on burring firecrackers.
“Ajay Kumar Dey has filed the public interest litigation with the prayer for the declaration of all puja pandal of Kali Puja, Jagadhatri Puja, Kartik Puja, and all ghats to declare the as the contentment zones. As well as we have applied for the honorable court to prohibit the use and sale of firecrackers in the upcoming Diwali festival. This has been filed in the context of COVID-19 Pandemic and we know that the spike is increasing every day, so we made this appeal before the honorable court to intervene as they did during Durga Puja to control the gathering. To give some safeguard so that this increase of COVID-19 pandemic is control,” said Sabyasachi.
Firecrackers sellers have temporary shops that sell firecrackers on Diwali every year. If the court will announce the verdict against them then it will affect them economically as they already made advance payments and ordered firecrackers.
Kaushik Mondal, the shopkeeper said “The condition is very bad, we set the shop as we used to every year but the market is dry. Not a single customer is buying this. They are reading articles in the newspaper. I have spent more than a lakh on this. But we are facing a lot of loss.”
More than 30 lakh people are connected with this business and this is the only time when they earn in a year.
Sukdev Naskar, General Secretary of firework association said “Our business is in a critical position, customers are not willing to purchase the firecrackers. So our sales drop. If the government and Justice of the High Court should think about us. At least 31 lakh people are connected to this and our annual turnover is around 6,000 crore in Bengal. So the ban on busting firecracker can affect the 31 lakh people of Bengal. We hope that the government and the high court will defiantly think about us as well.”
Sahera Bibi, 40-year-old labor who used to run her livelihood with this.
“Our condition is very bad. This is our year-long earning. We manage our expenses with this revenue only. 7 months of lockdown was terrible for me. I have to take a loan and also sell my gold jewelry to run my family. We made the product but now customers are not willing to buy it at the end our owner doesn’t pay our salary to us. It runs like this we have to kill ourselves,” said Bibi
The 7-month lockdown has shaken the economic structure of the business.
“The market is down. Our market our close for 7 months. Our business was shut for months. How we will manage our expenses? This is the only way we earn our livelihood. We took loan for this,” said Sukarna Mondal, a shopkeeper.
Workers are requesting the Calcutta High Court to think about their source of income as well.
Khokan Naskar, a worker said “Our condition is very bad, and now the case filed in Calcutta High court. We are tense about it. My family is depended on this. If the firecracker ban then we have no other way to survive. We know that owners are facing problems.”
Several doctors have already urged the administration not to allow the bursting of firecrackers during the festival to prevent air pollution which would otherwise worsen the situation for breathless corona patients.
