Kolkata: With the state government emphasising the promotion of green crackers, the city may celebrate a cleaner Diwali this year as huge amounts of such crackers are being brought in from various states to be sold at Bazi Bazaar (firecracker fair) at Shahid Minar in the Maidan area.
Bazi Bazaar (firecracker fair) may take place at Shahid Minar Maidan in Esplanade in early November after a gap of three years provided the Army gives the final nod. The fair was held for the last time in the venue in 2019. A huge amount of green firecrackers is being brought to the city mostly from Tamil Nadu and Haryana. Around 500 trucks loaded with such crackers have already arrived in the state. Some will also be brought from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh also. Only the green crackers will be sold at the fair, sources said.
Apart from the one in Maidan, nearly 150 more Bazi Bazaars will be held in different places of the state ahead of Kali Puja. The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute has already said that these green crackers have no harmful chemicals in it.
As a result, these crackers are expected to have no adverse impact on patients and cause no pollution. These do not contain aluminum, bohrium, or potassium nitrate. Green crackers produce a noise of around 110 decibels which is within the permissible limit.
Babla Roy, chairman of Sara Bangla Atasbazi Byabsayee Samity said: “There will be four large-scale fairs across the state, including the one at Sahid Minar Maidan. There will be 50 stalls in each of these fairs. The stalls would sell only green fire-crackers following all safety and security measures, and necessary permission from all state government stakeholders.”
The other venues of the fair include Dumurjala in Howrah, Barasat in North 24-Parganas and Kawakhali in Siliguri. Roy said that 150 fairs will be held at different venues across the state. The fairs are expected to last till November 12.
“I urge common people to purchase green crackers from these fairs as all licensed businessmen will be allowed to put up stalls. We are overwhelmed with the support of the state government and chief minister Mamata Banerjee,” Roy said. According to him, about 6,000 applications were received for setting up stalls at these fairs. Mamata had earlier formed a committee led by the chief secretary for identifying land parcels across the state for developing clusters of green firecrackers.