India Today exposes illegal firecracker sale in NCR

As toxic smog shrouds the National Capital Region (NCR), firework merchants are out to worsen the region's air this Diwali, selling hazardous crackers in bulk in brazen defiance of the Supreme Court ban, an India Today investigation has found.

Late last month, the top court prohibited the sale of fireworks containing barium compounds -- which explode into spectacular colours but leave dangerous toxins behind -- in Delhi-NCR.

The SC, however, permitted "improved green" fireworks with reduced emissions.

Hazardous ear-splitting fireworks are readily available at Modinagar and Farrukhnagar warehouses in Ghaziabad.