Thane: The district's ban on rockets and aerial fireworks has not stopped the fires it was written for. Eleven fires were reported in Thane city in the last 24 hours, according to fire brigade records, and crackers were still being burst across the city.
The order was issued on 9 November by District Collector Dr Shrikrishna Panchal, who also chairs the District Disaster Management Authority, and runs until 8 January 2027. It covers six municipal corporations: Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Bhiwandi, Mira-Bhayandar and Ulhasnagar. It applies to public and private spaces, including residential buildings, terraces, balconies and courtyards, and was issued under sections 292, 30(b) and 34(m) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023. A violation can bring up to a year in prison, a fine or both, and up to two years if it causes loss of life or imminent danger.
The trigger was a fire in the 17-storey Carlyle building in the Raheja Gardens complex at Teen Haath Naka. It broke out around 8.30pm on Sunday in a flat on the eighth floor and spread to the 14th. The Thane fire brigade and the TMC's disaster response force brought it under control around 2.30am on Monday. All 50 trapped residents were brought down by ladder and stretcher, along with their pets.
In the 24 hours that followed, fires were reported at Sevarlal Nagar next to the Thane Regional Mental Hospital, where garbage and a palm tree caught fire; at Shantinagar and Khartannagar in Vagle Estate, where tarpaulin sheets burned; at Chua Pool in Diva; at Dharmaveernagar in Pachpakhadi, where garbage caught fire; and at a plastic godown in Dahisar village near Shilphata.
Thane police have registered 33 cases against people for bursting firecrackers in public places during Diwali. Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 3, Atul Zende said the crackdown would continue across the Kalyan division. In Ambarnath and Badlapur, rockets and string bombs were burst until 1.30 to 2am on Padwa, despite night patrols.
Traders are fighting the order from the other side. The Mumbai-Thane Fireworkers Welfare Association has written to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, calling the ban premature because it came during the Diwali sales window and left stock bought from Sivakasi unsold, with losses running into crores. "People are performing stunts by bursting rockets in their hands instead of keeping them in bottles. The government should have created awareness about the right way to burst crackers instead of banning them," Minesh Mehta of the association said.
The ban runs through the wedding and New Year season, to 8 January.