Firecrackers sale dips this year

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 20

With more and more people in the city preferring a green Diwali, the sale of firecracker went down drastically.

Vendors say the cost of crackers was high due to the GST. Earlier, people used to purchase firecrackers worth Rs 20,000-25,000 in one go, but now, the upper limit stayed near Rs 5,000.

Due to the GST, slow economy and changing trend, the small consignments were received but they too could not be sold, they said.

“We have been running this business for the last 20 years. We have not seen such poor sales in the past. Earlier, people used to come and buy crackers in huge quantity but now, they don’t spend much money on it,” said Davinder Kumar, a firecracker vendor at sports stadium.

Another firecracker vendor Ashok said the exact numbers couldn’t be estimated but from his experience, this year sales had gone down by 60-70 per cent.

Not many children came to buy crackers and it is all because of the high cost, awareness and anti-crackers drives started by schools, he added.

Deepak Kumar, another firecracker vendor, suggested that instead of a restricting the bursting of crackers to a few hours or reducing the number of firecracker vends, the government should make it mandatory for manufacturers to introduce crackers that don’t pollute the air much.

“The business had been so good during the earlier years that money literally doubled during the week of Diwali celebrations. However, this season, it has not been so,” said a firecracker seller, who had also set up a stall last year.

Monika Garg, a city resident, said, “Last year, we were bursting crackers in our building when a rocket went into my neighbour’s house and broke a flower pot.”

“The smell of smoke resulted in many of us getting a headache. Since then, we decided not to burst crackers. Instead, we light our compound and building with LED diyas,” said.

Pankaj Kumar, another city resident, said, “We cannot force anyone to do things. However, we have created a WhatsApp group for our society members where we discuss the effects of bursting crackers on the environment. We decided to celebrate green Diwali. We brought a few fountain crackers and sparkles to celebrate the festival.”