INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Firecracker makers and traders have prompted the Supreme Court for relaxations (Representational)Kolkata: In the middle of jitters in the Rs
20,000-crore pan-India firecracker market in the wake of a Supreme Court order enforcing stringent guidelines on their sale and use, its
producers and sellers in the nation are seeing a 40 per cent downturn in sales during the continuous joyful season, authorities said on
Tuesday.They likewise looked for a detailed policy on firecrackers and a standard for producing less contaminating crackers from the centre
The all-India market for firecrackers is pegged at Rs 20,000 crore each year
This year, sales across states up until now are down by at least 40 percent as compared to last year
We honour the Supreme Court verdict
It is good for environment but the marketplace has actually ended up being disorderly after the ruling, Praveen Khandelwal, National
Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders, told IANS.Elaborating even more, he stated the firecracker organization is
seasonal in nature, with Diwali sales contributing about 80 per cent of entire yearly sales
Considering this seasonality, it created chaos for the industry as income of lakhs of people is connected with the market, he said.He
stated firecracker producers and traders have advised the top court for relaxations for this year only however no action has been
received.The leading court had declined to prohibit bursting of crackers on Diwali and allowed their sale and use with minimized emission
and decibel levels for two hours-- from 8 pm to 10 pm
The court also allowed southern states consisting of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to pick the time for breaking
firecrackers during Diwali topic to the limitation of two hours.Echoing Mr Khandelwal, Sara Bangla Atasbazi Unnayan Samity's Chairman Babla
Roy told IANS: There has actually been a two-hour window for rupturing of firecrackers
With these rigid rules, our sales in terms of volumes have been impacted considerably
Volumes are down by 40 percent on an average, as customers are purchasing less compared to volumes they would have bought without any time
The court likewise clarified that direction on bursting of green crackers was limited to Delhi and its adjoining locations and was not
suitable to the rest of country
About Rs 500 crore of stocks in Delhi-NCR region become redundant with the apex court's green crackers judgment
Neither we have the ability to transfer it to other states within such a short span of time, nor we have the ability to create green
products as no meaning of green crackers is readily available with us, Mr Khandelwal said
Firecracker producers and sellers prompted the Central federal government to come up with a thorough policy on firecrackers providing a
correct guideline to make green crackers, he added.Speaking on the Chinese imports of firecrackers, Mr Khandelwal stated domestic makers
have been putting a pan-India campaign versus the import from the neighbour, which lead to a check in the market but still the size of
imported Chinese firecrackers is to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore this year.
