Hinting that the Haryana government may modify its ban on firecrackers, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said people would be allowed to burst crackers for two hours on Diwali - from 8 pm to 10 pm. On Christmas and New Year, people can burst firecrackers from 11:55 pm to 12:30 am. "We have noticed that coronavirus cases have been increasing since the time air pollution started rising. Haryana's daily Covid case count had come down to 1,000. This has now increased to 2,011 cases today. So, we took a decision (banned sale and bursting of firecrackers) to safeguard people's health. However, for those who want to burst crackers, we will allow for two hours," Mr Khattar said.