Mangaluru: Despite the price fall on crackers, the people in Dakshina Kannada district have preferred to spend less on crackers and more on candles, basket lamps, traditional lamps during this Deepavali celebrations, say the crackers shop owners in the city.
The restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court on bursting of crackers, repeated anti-pollution campaigns, and greater awareness among residents appear to have had a positive impact with the firecracker sales recording a steep drop. The shopkeepers in the city say there has been a 30 percent to 40 percent decline in sales when compared to the previous year.
Dileep of Ganapathi Bhandarkar and Sons told Newskarnataka that he has been seeing a gradual decline in the sale of crackers during the past several years. “But this year it has been very low. The Supreme Court imposing a time limit on bursting crackers, may be one of the reasons. People themselves have started buying fewer crackers”, he opines.
The owner of the `Asian Crackers` on Bunder Road said that there was an increase in demand for fireworks that make less noise. “In the olden days, a family would spend around Rs 3000 to Rs 5000 on crackers. But now it is less than Rs 1000. People now prefer buying candles, basket lamps, traditional lamps”, he adds.
Earlier, giving permission to open crackers shop was the responsibility of the deputy commissioner of a district. But, it was given to the commissioner of police of a city from 2017. A total of 78 crackers shops have opened temporarily in the year 2017 in Mangaluru and it has increased to 84 this year. Though the police commissioner has received 93 applications for opening the crackers shop this year, he has granted permission for only 84 since they conform with the guidelines. With this temporary permit, shopkeepers can run their shop until Tulasi Pooja only, which will be celebrated on November 20. Besides that, the police department has granted permission for three permanent shops in Mangaluru City, which have been selling crackers throughout the year.
Commissioner of Police T R Suresh said that earlier, to obtain a permit from the police department, shopkeepers needed to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from Fire Department and local bodies. “As public safety is important, police department issues permission ensuring that all guidelines followed properly”, he said and added that no complaints had been received thus far with regard to bursting of crackers by violating the time limit set by Supreme Court during this Deepavali.
