Karpagam super market under the District Consumer Cooperative Wholesale Stores Limited here has kick-started a cracker sales drive ahead of Deepavali.
Collector Sankar inaugurated the sales on Saturday. According to Regional Joint Registrar of Societies S R Venkatesan, this year the supermarket targets sales worth `1.3 cr in the next two weeks. The target includes sales at the three Karpagam branches each in Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur and Gudiyattam. Last year, the outlets sold crackers to the tune of `78 lakh, as the production of crackers was relatively low owing to accidents in the cracker units at Sivakasi. Around 20 per cent of unsold crackers were returned to the manufacturers.
The Joint Registrar said this year, Karpagam has introduced several new varieties of crackers, fancy items and gift hampers. The prices of these varieties range from `160 to `2,516. Venkatesan said customers could enjoy a maximum discount of up to 75 per cent on the MRP of all the crackers sourced from the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Consumers Federation in Chennai. This is something private vendors cannot offer and is seen as an additional advantage for Karpagam outlets, he said.
The crackers sold at the super market are manufactured by standard companies as per the norms and would produce noise levels less than the permitted 125 decibel. The outlets in Karpagam University campus have obtained necessary licence and have met the safety norms, Venkatesan added.