Delhi CM Rekha Gupta faces Diwali 2025 air quality test after SC lifts firecracker ban. Green crackers allowed for 3 hours amid rising pollution levels.

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party has been in charge of Delhi for more than ten years, and during that time, the air quality got worse. The BJP will have its first Diwali air pollution test in 2025. The BJP has been stating for too long that environmentalists are unfairly picking on Diwali as the biggest polluter. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta is now facing her first trial by firecracker.

For the last five years, the city had banned all types of firecrackers. However, on Wednesday, the Supreme Court lifted the prohibition and said that “green” crackers could be used the day before Diwali and on the day of Diwali, but only for three hours.

By the way, the court order came on a day when the Air Quality Index (AQI) level in several parts of the city was over 300, which means the air was “very unhealthy.”

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Gupta said that the SC judgment was a victory for the “sentiments” of the people who live in the city and want to celebrate the festival of lights with fireworks. In an X post, she stated, “The Delhi government is still fully committed to respecting public sentiment and the vision of a clean and green Delhi.”

The BJP government promised to quickly clean up the Yamuna and lower Delhi’s air pollution after winning back power in the capital this February after a 27-year break.

But the Delhi government’s support in court for lifting the firecracker ban makes it harder to reach those aims.

In August, the Delhi administration praised itself for having the lowest average AQI (172) in the city in eight years and for having more “good” AQI days than in prior years. The chief minister noted that the government’s work seemed to be going well.

But the big test comes now, during the Diwali season. Every year, even though firecrackers are banned, AQI readings go up to three to four times what they normally are, putting the city in the “severe” air quality category for days.

CM Gupta and Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa have put in place a number of steps over the past eight months to reduce air pollution. These include cloud seeding tests, new electric buses and autorickshaws, more smog guns, and better dust control. This year’s floods in Punjab also stopped people from burning stubble in the adjacent state, which helped keep PM2.5 pollution levels in the national capital under control.

Also read;  Delhi CM says SC approval of green crackers respects people’s sentiments.

But experts think that Delhi might still have a smoggy Diwali because of policies like lifting the ban on fuel for end-of-life vehicles, making it easier for thermal plants to install flue gas desulphurization (FGD) systems (which cut down on sulfur dioxide emissions), and now the green crackers order.

Bhavreen Khandari, an environmental activist, remarked, “Green crackers are not pollution-free; they just release 25–30 percent less particulate matter than regular crackers, and only in lab conditions.” “They’re a way to distract from pollution, not get rid of it.”