Green crackers are not just going to lighten and brighten our Diwali but it will also help save millions of jobs in the cracker industry.
Yesterday, Union Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan told an eager press that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) labs have successfully developed various environment-friendly fireworks such as sound-emitting crackers, flowerpots, pencils, chakkar, and sparklers.
For long the cracker industry has come under fire for pollution during the Hindu festival of Diwali and also during the wedding season.
A Raw Materials Compositional Analysis (RACE) facility has been launched in Sivakasi to facilitate manufacturers for testing their raw materials and chemicals. About 530 emissions testing certificates have been issued to fireworks manufactures for new and improved formulations meeting the stipulated guidelines of green crackers.
However, after a call to the scientific community in 2018 by BJP leader Dr Harsh Vardhan in 2018, to develop reduced emission/green fireworks, eight labs participated,CSIR-NEERI, CEERI, IITR, IICT, NCL, CECRI, NBRI and CMERI, with CSIR NEERI, to develop reduced emission/green fireworks which would allow the consumers to celebrate guilt-free.
Apart from defining green crackers, baseline values for benchmarking green crackers and assessing Barium levels in conventional crackers and green crackers, have been laid down for legal and policy interventions.
CSIR-NEERI has also developed new formulations for reduced emission light and sound emitting crackers with 30% reduction in particulate matter.
He further pointed out that these fireworks, based on new formulations developed by CSIR, have been manufactured and are available in the Indian market for consumers and sellers.
Dr Harsh Vardhan also said that a helpline has been created for any queries related to emission certificates, QR Codes, and formulations. The helpline is available at: +918617770964 and +919049598046, or, email at: director@neeri.res.in.
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