Hyderabad Police restrict crackers to 2 hours, impose noise limit

Customers at a wholesale outlet of firecrackers at Begumbazar ahead of Deepavali in Hyderabad on Saturday (October 26).
| Photo Credit: RAMAKRISHNA G

The Hyderabad city police issued a memo to ban bursting of high-sound-producing crackers in public places and roads on Deepavali. As per the advisory, the public will be allowed to burst crackers only between 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. that too within the decibel limit set by the Supreme Court guidelines.

The ban is imposed keeping in mind the noise pollution complaints received on the dial 100 helpline of the police. “Those failing to comply with these orders will face action from the police. Meanwhile, the stall owners selling firecrackers are also warned to not sell without licence,” said DCP (North) S. Rashmi Perumal.

The crackers are categorised as ‘sound emitting’ and ‘sound and light emitting’. “There is a complete ban on sound-emitting one in public places except between between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The Supreme Court guidelines says that the sound levels shall not go beyond 55 decibel during day time in residential areas,” explained the officer.

This has come as a dampener to cracker sellers. The cracker sellers in Hyderabad had hoped to do a better business than last year. “With the election on December first week, we had the restriction of supply due to the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) staying in effect around the festival in 2023. We hope to do better this year,” said Rajendran, a cracker stall owner from Trimulgherry.

Meanwhile, the Telangana State Fire Department has received close to 7,000 applications from stall owners across the State for licences as of October 26. “The total applications received are 6,953, out of which 6,104 have been approved,” said Director-General of Telangana Fire Disaster Response Emergency and Civil Defence department Y. Nagi Reddy. Total applications for licences were 6,610 in 2023.

Mr. Nagi Reddy cautioned the public to remain vigilant while bursting fire crackers as the State Fire department received 35 firecracker related calls on the festival day in 2023, including 26 within the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits, and 19 from rest of the State.

Meanwhile, the city government healthcare facilities reported 75 firecracker-related injuries last year. The Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital saw a surge in emergency patients on November 11 and 12, with 50 cases. Of these, 48 occurred on November 12 alone.