Amritsar: Firecracker prices to remain high this Diwali

Tribune News Service

Neeraj Bagga

Amritsar, October 19

The prices of firecrackers are set to go up this Diwali due to a shortfall in the manufacturing and resale of allotted temporary vends.

Rakesh Seth, who possesses a licence to store two lakh kgs of firecrackers, said the prices of all crackers shot up by 40 per cent at Sivakasi, a major hub of firework manufacturers in the country. He attributed it to the increase in the cost of raw material, coal, fuel, transportation among others. Not allowing licence holders to trade in retail was another blow to them. As a result, buyers as well as traders would have to shell out more this Diwali.

Rates up by 40%

Rakesh Seth, who possesses a licence to store two lakh kgs of firecrackers, said the prices of all crackers shot up by 40 per cent at Sivakasi, a major hub of firework manufacturers in the country. He attributed it to an increase in the cost of raw material, coal, fuel, transportation among others.

Licensed firework stockists and traders are of the view that final rates of the crackers would be worked out once vends would be acquired by the traders concerned. They pointed out that over 2,000 people participated in the draw of lots to allot 10 temporary vends for selling crackers. The district does not have more than 36 people who possess licence under the Explosives Act or the Union Government-issued licence under the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Act, for the storage of crackers.

The Petroleum and Explosive Safety Organisation, a department for the Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, allocates licences to the traders.

Harish Dhawan, a licensed cracker trader, said there were 32 licence holders in the city dealing in storage and possession of crackers of not more than 1,500 kg. There were three Union Government-issued licence holders, who were allowed to manufacture and store less than two lakh kg of crackers. These three licence holders were allowed to manufacture ‘phuljhadi’ (sparkle) and ‘anar’ (flower pot).

These traders with fair experience in crackers would be pitted in competition against traders from all kinds of trade in the auction, he said.

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