Festival season a damp squib for firecracker traders in Kurali

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, November 8

With just three days left for Diwali, the firecracker market in Kurali is warming up to the festive season ahead. Shopkeepers today started setting up tents to sell the merchandise.

Around 40-50 stalls have lined up on the main highway near the Kurali bypass. It boasts of being the biggest wholesale market in the region.

“Pollution, administration restriction, limited time slot for bursting crackers and people’s concern for environment are the reasons why the market is dying a slow death. There is no rush, no customers. Firecrackers are just one-day affair now, that too for 3-4 hours. Nowadays, people come only on the day of Diwali to buy handful of crackers. It is for custom sake only. Green crackers are expensive, so people opt for the traditional ones more,” said Gurpreet Singh, a stall owner and Kurali businessman.

Though stall owners said the sales had been sluggish till now. New stalls are being set up daily. Local residents said during this time of the year, small store owners, vegetable sellers and part-timers switch to cracker sale to make quick money.

Making a sales pitch for green crackers, Mohit, a stall owner at the Kurali bypass, said, “Bas naam matr pollution karde hain… (green firecrackers pollute minimally) Use kar ke dekhange tahi pataa chalega..(buy it to know the reality),” he said with a poker face, returning to make neat rows of vibrant crackers.

The administration has allotted around 44 provisional licences for the sale of firecrackers in the district. For Mohali, 14 licences have been awarded against the total 1,550 applications received.

For stalls in Banur, 25 applications were received and four licences granted while in Nayagaon, 10 applications were received against one licence. In Kharar, three licences were issued against 13 applications while four licences were given in Lalru where 41 applications were received.

In Kurali, four licences were given against nine applications, while in Zirakpur, eight licences were granted even as 40 people had applied for it. In Dera Bassi, 151 applicants sought licence while the administration issued it to six of them. 15 places had been earmarked for the sale of firecrackers in the district.