Summary:
NOIDA: The district administration on Sunday registered FIRs against 44 retailers for selling crackers banned by the Supreme Court . The DM has been given seven days to respond.The district administration had issued conditional licences to 82 cracker retailers in total, despite officials admitting in private that ‘green crackers’ were not available in the market. While issuing the licences, the retailers had been told to sell crackers only from a makeshift market at Sector 33 and Bhangel.Of the 44 FIRs, 30 were lodged at Sector 24 police station and the remaining at Phase 2 police station. A decision on whether to arrest them will be taken thereafter. Following the CPCB notice, the DM had asked the city magistrate to explain how crackers banned by the Supreme Court were sold and burst openly on Diwali night on November 7.On Saturday, DM BN Singh ordered FIRs against all retailers found guilty of selling traditional crackers.Pankaj Pant, the SHO of Sector 24 police station, said they would now carry out an investigation to find out if the sellers mentioned in the FIR indeed sold banned crackers..