Two incidents of violence over firecracker bursting on Diwali were reported from Haryana's Faridabad on Friday.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has issued detailed instructions to ensure the effective implementation of the ban.
An independent magisterial inquiry has been initiated into the death of social entrepreneur Rohit Arya, who was shot during a police operation while holding 17 children and two adults hostage in Mumbai. The inquiry will run parallel to a crime branch investigation.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
'We were sitting inside the shop when suddenly there was a loud blast. People were startled and items of shops were scattered all over the road'
Priyanka Chopra, Tamannaah Bhatia, Khushi Kapoor turned the Bvlgari showcase into a star-studded style spectacle.
Italy beat Israel 3-0 at home on Tuesday thanks to a Mateo Retegui double and a late goal from Gianluca Mancini.
The city's air quality dropped to the "very poor" category, with an Air Quality Index of 330 at 10 pm.
Twenty passengers were burnt alive and 15 others sustained critical burn injuries after the private bus travelling to Jodhpur on Tuesday afternoon caught fire, barely 10 minutes after it left Jaisalmer.
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
Soon after the verdict, celebrations broke out outside Lt Colonel Purohit's residence, where supporters burst firecrackers and distributed sweets to mark the court's decision.
A gas cylinder blast in a house at Dholahat in West Bengal's Pathar Pratima has claimed eight lives, including four children. The explosion, which occurred on Monday night, triggered a massive fire, intensified by the presence of stacked firecrackers inside the house. The incident has sparked a political controversy, with the BJP demanding a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe and the TMC maintaining that the police are already investigating and that the state government has a "zero-tolerance " policy towards such incidents. The blast has also raised concerns about the safety of illegal firecracker manufacturing units, which have been linked to several recent accidents in the state.
A complete ban on firecrackers in Delhi until January 1, the government's refusal to grant licences for sales in Karnataka, and restrictions in the Noida region are adversely affecting the business of manufacturers in Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi, which produces over 90 per cent of India's fireworks. According to industry players, demand has decreased by 20 per cent compared to last year. Moreover, the ban on the use of barium nitrate and the manufacturing and sale of joint fireworks is also impacting demand.
Rescue operations continued through the night at the site of the incident which claimed 11 lives and left more than 200 people injured, they said.
Maharashtra minister Nitesh Rane criticizes Uddhav and Raj Thackeray's joint rally, calling it divisive and anti-Hindu. Senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar offers a more conciliatory view.
The Delhi government has been following the practice of banning all kinds of firecrackers for the last three years.
A number of videos of the incident surfaced on social media showing the fire with intermittent explosions taking place at the site and people running helter-skelter to save themselves.
Nine workers, including five women, died and 10 others were injured in a blaze at a fireworks-manufacturing unit in Sivakasi on Thursday, a senior police official said.
The clarification by the top court, which had in 2018 banned the bursting of conventional firecrackers to curb air and sound pollution, will have ramifications across the nation.
According to the ADGP, around 18 people were working at the factory when the blast took place.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the Delhi government's order putting a comprehensive ban on manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city, saying people's health is important.
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Delhi police not to issue temporary licences for sale and storage of any kind of firecrackers, saying when the city government has banned all firecrackers no distinction can be made on the basis of whether it is green or not.
A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice G S Kulkarni said while it was not going to order a ban on bursting of firecrackers, a balance needs to be struck considering the deteriorating air quality index (AQI) in the metropolis.
According to eyewitnesses, several bodies were lying on the spot, while many people were reported missing after the explosion-cum-blaze at the factory.
The police seized a huge quantity of explosives and banned firecrackers during raids in different locations in rural West Bengal and arrested at least 100 people for their alleged involvement in running illegal manufacturing factories, a senior state police official said on Tuesday.
'The country that came into existence after Partition lives on hatred for India. It only wants to harm Bharat. However, India's goals are to remove poverty, bring about economic development and become a developed nation'
Another explosion "linked to illegal firecrackers" took place in West Bengal on Monday, the third such blast within a span of just seven days.
Some videos of the incident surfaced on social media showing the fire with intermittent explosions taking place at the site and people running to save themselves.
Thalapathy Vijay-starrer GOAT released to much fanfare and celebration.
Suspected drones were observed along the International Border in Samba district of Jammu region on Monday, while armed forces downed a 'surveillance drone' in Punjab's Jalandhar district.
During a hearing on Friday, the bench noted that Mumbai was witnessing a decline in the bursting of firecrackers.
Calm prevailed in Punjab, especially in the border areas of the state, on Sunday morning, following an understanding between India and Pakistan to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea.
Gaps in enforcement, limited monitoring, and easy access to firecrackers from the NCR region where restrictions were slack were largely responsible for the widespread flouting of the cracker ban in Delhi on Diwali, experts have opined.
The Trinamool Congress supremo, who reached Khadikul village in this area, 11 days after the blast, also said the incident could have been averted if the state had received proper intelligence inputs.
'Those were not kind days for a woman with a break-up. The world has changed; today, nobody cares.'
Rescue officials confirmed casualties in the incident, claiming to have already recovered 5 bodies from the heap of debris where the cracker manufacturing unit once stood.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih referred to newspaper reports mentioning a considerable violation of court orders.
Risking his own life, a Kashmiri tourist guide saved the lives of children from a group of tourists from Chhattisgarh when terrorists struck in Pahalgam on Tuesday.
A tale of terror, courage, and humanity -- one father's desperate escape, a mother's sacrifice, and Kashmiris who saved lives.
There will be a blanket ban on the production, sale and use of all types of firecrackers in the national capital, including on Diwali, till January 1, 2023, Environment Minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances