The Kolkata Police claims to have collected 840 kg of illicit firecrackers after simultaneous searches at numerous places throughout the city as part of its ongoing campaign against illegal firecrackers.
A team from Posta Police Station conducted numerous raids at various locations after receiving information that a large number of prohibited firecrackers were being stored at one location in Kolkata. During these raids, they discovered 28 boxes full of prohibited firecrackers from a godown that belonged to the state transportation department.
The firecrackers were housed in the godown and were supposed to be distributed at night to other West Bengal areas, including Medinpore district. The chief of the transport department, Gouranga Sarkar, was detained by police in connection with the storage of the firecrackers, and a case has been filed against him under the Explosive Substances Act.
After several raids over the course of the previous 12 hours, the Kolkata Police reported earlier on Thursday that it had taken more than 250 kg of illegal firecrackers from dealers in Jorasanko, Posta, and Burrabazar. The Jorasanko Police conducted the first of the searches, which resulted in the seizure of 153 kg of illegal firecrackers from godowns and stores, according to the police. Later, 120 kg of illegal firecrackers were found in the possession of shop owners and hawkers in the Old China Bazar Market area after a Burrabazar Police operation.
The Calcutta High Court said on Tuesday that only green crackers with QR codes would be allowed to be imported and sold in West Bengal. According to PTI, the court ordered that only green crackers with QR codes would be sold at the bazi bazar (firecracker market) that is scheduled to begin on October 18 in Kolkata.
A division bench made up of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Apurba Sinha Roy further ordered the state PCB and the police commissioner to send out the proper number of officers to the bazi bazar to ensure that the directive was followed.