Meerut, Rohtak and Rewari new hotspots for buying crackers
The trader had invested Rs 15 lakh in buying crackers for this season, apart from the stock that he had from last year.
New Delhi: It will not be a smoke-free Diwali after all. It doesn’t look like the ban on the sale of firecrackers in Delhi-NCR has impacted those who wish to buy them this Diwali.
The sale of crackers is still taking place illegally at many places in the national capital. In fact, the ban by apex court has led to black marketing as traders are selling and residents are buying crackers in markets like Sadar Bazar, Burari, and Azadpur. “Yes, I am selling it illegally. What else can I do? I bought firecrackers a week before the ban by taking a loan and if I don’t sell my stock, I would be in huge debt. Will the court repay my debt?” asked a hassled Sonu, who has been selling crackers during Diwali for the past seven years in Burari.
The trader had invested Rs 15 lakh in buying crackers for this season, apart from the stock that he had from last year.
“When production has not been banned, why should sale be banned? Why should we bear the loss? There is demand for crackers and we are only supplying it,” he added.
The Supreme Court had recently banned the sale of firecrackers in Delhi, citing last year’s high pollution levels post Diwali fireworks. However, there is no ban on bursting them in the city.
The traders said that the ban on sale alone has opened gates for illicit market.
“If we take stock of last year, 50,00,000 kg in NCR and 1,00,000 kg in Delhi was sold as reported in courts. More than 100 lakh kg firecrackers in Delhi-NCR today bear the manufacturing date of 2017,” claims Mukul Gupta, one of the wholesalers in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar. The dealers have now taken licenses in other states and are also selling products through home delivery. Meerut and Rohtak have become the new hotspots for buying crackers.
“We are getting a high demand for crackers from Meerut and other cities. We are supplying them as we cannot do anything else. The court’s ban is on sale of crackers only in Delhi and it won’t stop Delhiites from bursting them,” a trader said.
Even though sale is banned, a demand clearly exists. This is why a ban confined to a particular geographical area won’t have much impact. In fact residents of Delhi are getting them from the neighbouring cities and many traders are even offering home delivery service.
Take for instance the case of Naveen Rathore in North Delhi. Under pressure from his kids to buy crackers, he is planning to go to Rewari — some 100 km from Delhi — for cracker shopping.