Some of Uttar Pradesh's key cities, especially adjoining the national capital, have observed a steep spike in pollution level ahead of Diwali. So the traditional firecracker market here this year, is all set to go green. Lucknow and most other cities and towns of UP will be celebrating an environment-friendly Diwali, though there will be no dearth of crackers. Lucknow's traditional firecracker market in the Rakabganj area has wholesale shops dealing in 'green crackers', developed by the Indian Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and it includes crackers like anar, sparkles, and chakkar.

A little expensive for the pockets but a great lot effective

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The green crackers do not contain harmful chemicals, which means that there will be less pollution emission, resulting in reduced air pollution. Major cities like Prayagraj, Agra, Varanasi, Kanpur and Meerut are also opting for green crackers this year. It is being said that mainly due to the pandemic, the awareness amidst the citizens about the environment has substantially increased.

"Besides, raw material for traditional firecrackers is not available in adequate quantities so we are making green crackers this time," said Ashraf Khan who runs a cracker wholesale shop. Most of the sellers are selling branded products, that too green ones. Be it brands like Sivakasi, Premium or others- all are manufacturing crackers that cause less pollution.

Akhilesh Gupta, a dealer and convenor of the fire cracker traders' association, said that the city has 32 licensed shops dealing in fire crackers and majority of them have opted for environment friendly products. He added, "Green crackers are not green in colour, but pollute less and produce less noise as compared to the traditional crackers that were available earlier. These are perhaps the milder avatars of the traditional crackers." However, he mentioned that the prices of green crackers were a little higher than that of the traditional crackers.

City Magistrate Sushil Pratap Singh said, "The final list of the places where fire cracker shops would come up is yet to be released. It would be ensured that the shops deal only in the green fire crackers that cause less pollution."

With inputs from iANS