NEW DELHI: A week before the festival of sound and lights, a deafening silence shrouds the narrow streets of Farrukh Nagar, the firecracker industrial hub of north India. The October 9 Supreme Court ban on firecrackers in the national capital ahead of Diwali has crushed the backbone of the 100-odd firecracker making units in this nondescript town 35 km from here. Today, it seems like a ghost town, with downed shutters of factories and desolate markets that once rang with festive cheer during this time.
Farrukh Nagar is known as the “small Sivakasi of Tamil Nadu”, famous for its firecracker, matches and printing industries. Here, almost every household is engaged in the business of firecrackers, directly or indirectly. But despite hoardings and banners announcing firecrackers, not one is for sale—at least on the face of it.
“We have nothing to do now. We are just passing time. This is the time when we used to do business for the whole year, but we’re doing nothing after the ban,” said Naresh Upadhayay, who owns a big firecracker shop in the town. “Every household is involved with the firecracker business in some way or the other. There are more than 100 shops and factories and more than 5,000 people are employed with the industry. But now I don’t know what will happen to us.”
To explore the underbelly of the firecracker market in Farrukh Nagar, this reporter visited the town as a wholesale buyer. As soon as our car stopped near a shop, a man approached, asking, “What is the matter brother? Do you want to buy anything?” On being told that all shops were shut, he promptly said, “You tell me what you want. I’ll take you there from the back door.” After ensuring we were genuine buyers, Manoj led us into a narrow lane. “Don’t worry. Nobody will see you here. We have some stock lying here inside. I’ll take you inside only after you pay some money in advance,” he said.
Traders use code words such as ‘mithai’, ‘samaan’, ‘gola’, etc to run their business clandestinely. “Don’t use the word pataka. Sale has been banned. We call pataka ‘mithai’ now,” said Dinesh, a trader. Some traders are keeping samples in cars parked casually to avoid detection. About the Supreme Court ban, traders said they also don’t want pollution. “But the government should also take other measures to control pollution. There are hundreds and thousands of polluting industries. There are trucks. This is a one-day festival and children enjoy bursting crackers for two-three hours on that day,” said Rahul Gupta, another trader.
On Friday, factory owners and traders’ associations filed a review petition to reconsider the ban order. But they were not too optimistic. “We have lost all hope. We think the earlier order will be upheld,” said Aman Tyagi, another trader. For the firecracker traders of Farrukh Nagar this Diwali, the goddess of wealth Lakshmi won’t be smiling down on them.
On a Short Fuse