Nine FIRs have been registered against the organizing committees of Dussehra events at different places. Chandigarh To burst firecrackers filled with effigies of Ravana, Meghnad and Kumbhakarna here on Friday.
The FIR was registered on the basis of statements of police personnel who were present at the sites and evidence available through video footage and photographs.
Requesting anonymity, some members of the organizing committees said firecrackers were used after the announcement BJP The chairman, Arun Sood, who had publicly stated that people can burst crackers on Dussehra as the guidelines ban their use only on Diwali.
When asked, Sood said, “Actually, I discussed the matter with the Chandigarh Administration officials and the UT Police. According to the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the use of firecrackers is banned on Diwali. There are no clear guidelines for not using them on Dussehra. Chandigarh Police has registered an FIR in haste. We will demand the withdrawal of these FIRs.”
Sood had attended Dussehra celebrations in Sector 34, where effigies filled with firecrackers were burnt. A day before Dussehra, Sood had assured the organizers of Ram Leela committees that he had taken up the issue of use of firecrackers with the UT administration and assured them that the use of firecrackers is banned only on Diwali. The persons booked include other members of Manu Basin and Sector 28 Dussehra Committee; Naseem, who burst crackers at Ram Leela Maidan in Sector 27D; Madan Lal Acharya, President and Navdeep Kaushik, General Secretary, Azad Dramatic Club, Mani Majra; Member of Dharma Rakshak Kala Manch Society; Member of Shri Ram Leela and Dussehra Commission Committee; and Youth Welfare Club, Village Maloya, Sector 20. The cases were registered at PS Mani Majra, PS 26, PS 34, PS IT Park, PS 17, PS IT Park and PS Maloya.
Police sources said that some members of the booked committees claimed that they were allowed to use firecrackers on Dussehra, but the police told them that there was no official order from the UT administration.
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