Chandigarh Administration to take call on sale and bursting of crackers today

Chandigarh, October 11

The UT Administration will take a decision on whether to ban the sale and bursting of firecrackers during Diwali at a meeting tomorrow.

UT Adviser Dharam Pal said the decision on the issue would be taken tomorrow after taking advice from medical and environment experts in view of a possible third wave of Covid-19.

Last year, the UT Administration had imposed a complete ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers in the city during Diwali.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Cracker Dealers Association today approached the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to clear the air on the matter.

“In the absence of clear directions, the trade of crackers has been going through the worst phase for the past two years,” said association president Davinder Kumar Gupta and general secretary Chirag Aggarwal in a statement issued here today. Last year, while the UT had banned crackers, the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were selling and bursting crackers without any hindrance by the local government, they said, adding that the association had approached the DC several times to take a decision well in time so that the traders did not suffer.

In 2020, the Administration had earned nearly Rs10 lakh from nearly 1,650 traders for the issuance of cracker licences, which were later withdrawn. They urged the Administration to carry forward the licence fee for 2021.

“We have put forth our demand before the Administration that if neighbouring states have not banned crackers, these should not be banned in Chandigarh also,” they said.

They said the association was planning to stage a dharna in front of the DC office if no decision was taken by the Administration in the coming week. — TNS