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Weeks before Diwali, the government on Monday gave a stern message that fireworks of foreign origin being sold in India were illegal. "Till date, no licence for import of fireworks has been granted under the Explosives Rules, 2008 by Petroleum & Explosives Safety Organisation, a subordinate office of Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP)," an official statement said here.
It said possession and sale of fireworks of foreign origin in India was illegal and punishable under the law. The department urged the public to report information about possession or sale of such fireworks to the nearest police station for suitable action.
DIPP said it had been brought to its notice that these fireworks were illegally brought into India under false declarations. However, it did not identify any country from which these fireworks were being smuggled, although most of these were widely expected to come from China.
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The Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers' Association or TANFAMA has also said illegal fireworks of foreign origin had been brought into the the country in large quantities and these were likely to be sold through retail outlets extensively during the coming Diwali season. Diwali is on October 23.
Various fireworks associations have also informed that these smuggled items include 'potassium chlorate', a hazardous chemical and which can ignite or explode spontaneously.
The manufacture, possession, use and sale of any explosive containing sulphur or sulphurate in admixture with any chlorate is banned in the country since 1992, the statement said.
Fireworks in India have been declared as a 'restricted item' in terms of import by the Director General of Foreign Trade.
