FPJ Legal: National Green Tribunal issues notice to collectors of Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur for fireworks on Diwali night

Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): National Green Tribunal (NGT), Bhopal has issued a notice to the collectors of four districts Bhopal, Indore, Gwalior and Jabalpur for fireworks on the night of Diwali Festival.

During a hearing on Friday, a division bench of NGT Bhopal Justice Shiv Kumar Singh and Expert Member Arun Kumar Verma sought a reply on the notice within a month.

P G Najpande, a resident of Jabalpur had filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal on behalf of a social organization of Jabalpur demanding to stop the fireworks on Diwali.

During hearing on the petition NGT issued an order that only green crackers were allowed to be burst for 2 hours in the cities whose air quality index were less than 200. The district collectors were given the responsibility of the monitoring.

But it did not happen according to the order. There were a lot of fireworks throughout the night, as a result of which the air quality index of cities like Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Indore had reached to the dangerous level.

After that a contempt petition was filed in NGT. After hearing the issue raised in the contempt petition, the NGT has issued the notice to the collectors and sought the reply within a month. The next hearing into the matter has been scheduled on April 4.