Despite the Urban Disaster Management Authority (UDMA) clamped a city-wide ban on rockets and sky shots across rooftops, balconies, and congested localities until November 30, ground execution has run into a practical wall. Following a catastrophic festive spike of 42 blazes in a single day, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s (NMC) post-Diwali prohibition on aerial fireworks has plunged civic and police enforcement squads into a severe operational conundrum. In densely populated residential pockets across Mahal, Itwari, Gandhibag, and Dharampeth areas, tracing individual rooftops or multi-storey balconies from where airborne projectiles are launched in the dark is proving to be a near-impossible challenge for field personnel.

 

Highlighting this tracking blind spot, a senior fire official admitted, “This can only be identified if any neighbour informs about the one launching the sky rockets and aerial firecrackers. By the time an aerial shell shoots into the night sky and bursts, establishing the exact origin among dozens of clustered buildings is unfeasible from street level unless someone in the immediate vicinity alerts authorities.” The retrospective nature of the order has triggered sharp internal criticism across municipal departments. Several zonal assistant commissioners and civic officials argue that the clampdown should have been enforced at the primary stage -- in late October when authorities granted No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) to 888 temporary retail stalls.

 

“Attempting to police thousands of private residential terraces after massive stocks of aerial explosives have already been sold across counters is an exercise in futility,” a civic official noted. “The administration should have outlawed the sale and storage of airborne fireworks right at the licensing stage. Had they banned aerial crackers initially, this unmanageable situation could have been entirely averted,” he added. With NMC’s limited workforce already tied to routine sanitation and essential public utilities, monitoring late-night terrace violations remains a hollow mandate, particularly as upcoming Panchami Diwali celebrations threaten widespread commercial bursting.