Akash Sama­roo

Lead Ed­i­tor-Pol­i­tics

akash.sama­roo@cnc3.co.tt

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar is urg­ing cit­i­zens cel­e­brat­ing Di­vali this week­end to do so safe­ly and re­spon­si­bly, re­mind­ing them that fire­works can on­ly be dis­charged with­out a per­mit be­tween 8 pm and 9 pm on pub­lic hol­i­days un­der leg­is­la­tion in­tro­duced last year.

In a mes­sage ahead of the Fes­ti­val of Lights, Per­sad-Bisses­sar called on cit­i­zens to re­spect the law while re­main­ing con­sid­er­ate of neigh­bours, el­der­ly peo­ple, chil­dren and an­i­mals who may be dis­tressed by loud ex­plo­sions.

“As we cel­e­brate the beau­ti­ful fes­ti­val of Di­vali, I wish to re­mind all cit­i­zens of the pro­vi­sions of the Sum­ma­ry Of­fences (Amend­ment) Act, 2025, con­cern­ing the use of fire­works,” she said.

The Prime Min­is­ter al­so high­light­ed re­stric­tions pro­hibit­ing the dis­charge of fire­works with­in half a mile of hos­pi­tals, air­ports, zoos, reg­is­tered an­i­mal shel­ters, farms where an­i­mals are reared, for­est re­serves and na­tion­al parks.

“I en­cour­age every­one to cel­e­brate re­spon­si­bly, re­spect­ing our neigh­bours, el­der­ly cit­i­zens, young chil­dren and an­i­mals who may be dis­tressed by loud ex­plo­sions,” she said.

“Let us en­joy the beau­ty and joy of Di­vali while en­sur­ing the safe­ty, peace and com­fort of those around us.”

The new fire­works reg­u­la­tions came in­to ef­fect on De­cem­ber 19, 2025, fol­low­ing the pas­sage of the Sum­ma­ry Of­fences (Amend­ment) Act, which in­tro­duced stricter con­trols over when and where fire­works can be dis­charged.

Ac­cord­ing to the leg­is­la­tion, in­di­vid­u­als gen­er­al­ly re­quire a per­mit from the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice to dis­charge fire­works, with lim­it­ed ex­cep­tions for pub­lic hol­i­days be­tween 8 pm and 9 pm and Old Year’s Night be­tween 11.30 pm and 12.30 am on New Year’s Day.

The law al­so pro­hibits the dis­charge of fire­works in a man­ner that en­dan­gers peo­ple or prop­er­ty, cre­ates a nui­sance, or in­volves fir­ing fire­works in, on or on­to hous­es, ve­hi­cles or streets.

The ac­com­pa­ny­ing reg­u­la­tions in­tro­duced a $450 fixed-penal­ty tick­et for breach­es of the fire­works pro­vi­sions, while ap­pli­ca­tions for fire­works per­mits cost $100.

The mea­sures were in­tro­duced to reg­u­late the use of fire­works while al­low­ing cit­i­zens to con­tin­ue ob­serv­ing tra­di­tion­al cel­e­bra­tions with­in pre­scribed hours and safe­ty re­quire­ments.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s re­minder comes as Hin­du fam­i­lies across Trinidad and To­ba­go pre­pare to cel­e­brate Di­vali, a fes­ti­val sym­bol­is­ing the tri­umph of light over dark­ness and good over evil.

She end­ed her mes­sage by ex­tend­ing Di­vali greet­ings to the pop­u­la­tion.

“Shubh Di­vali to all! May Moth­er Lak­sh­mi bless every home with peace, hap­pi­ness and pros­per­i­ty,” the Prime Min­is­ter said.