No firecrackers for Dasara celebrations at Red Fort

The pyrotechnics will be missing when effigies of demon king Ravana, his son Meghnad and brother Kumbhkarana will be set afire at Delhi's famous Lav Kush Ramlila at Red Fort on Tuesday.

This departure from tradition is the organisers' way of minimising air pollution.

To make up for the missing fireworks, the sound of crackers will be played on speakers.

"We want to send out a message against pollution. Ravana will be set afire but the noise of crackers will only be heard through speakers," an organiser of Lav Kush Ramlila, Arjun Kumar, said on Monday.

He said even the height of the effigies has been reduced from 125 feet last year to 60 feet.

According to Kumar, approximately 15,000 to 20,000 strings of firecrackers are used in an effigy.

The Lav Kush Ramlila Committee is one of the oldest in the national capital. It is known for featuring celebrities and politicians as key characters in the ten-day theatrical enactment of Hindu epic Ramayana.