Punjab allows 2-hour window for bursting 'green' crackers on Diwali: Check timings

Chandigarh, Oct 12: The Punjab government on Wednesday announced timings for bursting of green crackers in the evening of Deepavali Day. The firecrackers will be allowed for only 2 hours on Diwali between 8pm to 10 pm.

For Prakash Purab on Sri Guru Nanak Jayanti bursting of firecrackers will be allowed from 4 am to 5 am in the morning and 9 pm to 10 pm at night.

"Firecrackers will be allowed to be fired in the state (on Diwali) for two hours from 8 pm to 10 pm. The manufacture, stock, distribution, sale and use of joined firecrackers is hereby banned in the whole of Punjab. Only the green crackers would be allowed for sale and use in the state," Punjab environment minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said in a statement.

According to the government order, the sale of firecrackers should only be done through licenced traders and it should be ensured that the traders are selling only those crackers which are permitted.

"Crackers will be allowed for one hour from 4 am to 5 am and one hour from 9 to 10 pm on November 8, the Prakash Purab day of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. 35 minutes for Christmas from 11.55 pm to 12.30 am midnight on December 25-26 and 35 minutes from 11.55 pm to 12.30 am midnight on New Year's Eve from 31 December-1 January have been allowed," the statement added.

The Punjab government move comes amid a worsening air quality in the border state.