Cracker sale to take a blow, black Diwali for us: Traders

The Supreme Court verdict on firecrackers that came in on Tuesday, has sent traders in the capital into a tizzy. Unable to have recovered their losses from last season when the court had banned their sale in Delhi, restricting them from new stock, the businessmen fear 'black Diwali' this year.

The apex court has prescribed parameters regarding composition of crackers that can be sold in the market. Terming them as green fireworks, they should not contain harmful chemicals like barium, lithium, lead, mercury among others. The court had also directed that only crackers that are within noise pollution limits set in July 2005 verdict will be allowed, banning 'laadi' or chain firecrackers. "Business is going to be less than lukewarm this Diwali too. We have not bought new stock this year since we could not sell last year's stock too. We do not hope to make any profit," said Dharmender Goyal who runs a wholesale shop of firecrackers in Sadar Bazar, the hub of fireworks. Similar concerns were expressed by Rakesh Choudhary, owner of a wholesale business in Mehrauli. "This business is no longer lucrative. If the court thinks that banning us from selling them will prevent people from buying from elsewhere, it will not happen. As for us, we have been bearing the brunt of court orders for the past few years in the form of financial losses,"he said.

Few businessmen also felt that the new directions on the composition of fireworks has come at a wrong juncture. "There is no time to manufacture new products. We will be disposing of old products. We have already incurred losses because sales were very less last Diwali, Light has gone out of the festival of lights for us," said Naeem Ali, a manufacturer who has unit set up in Farrukhabad.