NEW DELHI: India’s top court ordered a temporary ban on the sale of firecrackers in New Delhi on Monday, ahead of the Diwali festival that leaves the city shrouded in toxic smog.
The decision comes a little over a week before Diwali — the Hindu festival of lights — when Delhi fills with acrid smoke from celebratory firecrackers set off day and night.
The onset of winter usually worsens the situation as cooler temperatures trap the pollutants, exacerbated by crop burning in neighboring states.
Acting on a petition, the Supreme Court directed that all licenses to sell firecrackers in New Delhi and neighboring cities be suspended until October 31.
“The court has made it clear that all licenses stand banned forthwith,” Haripriya Padmanabhan, one of the petitioners, told NDTV news network after the order.
India’s notoriously poor air quality causes over 1 million premature deaths every year, according to a joint report by two US-based health research institutes earlier this year.
A 2014 World Health Organization survey of more than 1,600 cities ranked Delhi as the most polluted.
At midday Monday, the US embassy showed the concentration of PM2.5 — the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease — at an “unhealthy” level.
The top court had imposed a similar ban last November when Delhi’s air quality reached “hazardous” levels after Diwali, forcing schools to shut and a temporary ban on construction.
But the November order was briefly lifted last month, allowing residents to buy firecrackers ahead of Diwali, which falls on October 19 this year.
“I guess those people will end up bursting them, so it’s not a 100 percent victory,” Padmanabhan said.
India’s top court bans firecracker sales before Diwali
India’s top court bans firecracker sales before Diwali
Russia says two crew members from US-seized tanker released
- “Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” Zakharova said
- Russia announced earlier this month that the US had decided to release the Russian duo
MOSCOW: Moscow said Wednesday two Russian crew members of a tanker seized this month by the United States in the Atlantic had been released and were on their way home.
US authorities took over the Russian-flagged vessel earlier this month, alleging it was part of a shadow fleet carrying oil from countries such as Venezuela, Russia and Iran in violation of US sanctions.
The United States said publicly that the Marinera’s crew could be prosecuted. Russia said that would be “categorically unacceptable” and accused Washington of stoking tensions and threatening international shipping.
“Two Russian sailors have been released and are on their way home to Russia,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday.
Russia announced earlier this month that the United States had decided to release the two Russian crew members, but last week its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the decision had not yet been implemented.
The captain and the first officer of the tanker have left UK waters, Solicitor General for Scotland, Ruth Charteris told a court hearing Tuesday, Press Association news agency reported.
“The captain and the first officer are now aboard the US Coast Guard vessel Munro and have departed the United Kingdom’s territorial sea,” Charteris said.
Twenty-six of the 28 crew have left the ship, officials told AFP. They were processed at a military site in Inverness, Scotland, the court was told, according to Press Association.
Five wanted to travel to the United States and 21 elsewhere. None have claimed asylum, the court heard.
“At the request of the US authorities, crew members have been allowed to disembark for onwards travel,” a UK government spokesperson told AFP Wednesday.
“They will be processed in line with all appropriate immigration and legal requirements.”
Britain was not involved in the movement of the other two crew members, the government said.
The United States seized the tanker, previously known as Bella 1, which was being escorted by the Russian navy, after chasing it from near the Venezuelan coast.
It was re-flagged and re-named to bring it under Russian jurisdiction in a bid to discourage the United States from trying to take it as part of its campaign against Venezuela.
