CHENNAI: On the eve of Deepavali, the city gets into the festive mood but crackers, often considered the main part of the festival, maybe seen fewer in number this year.
A fireworks bazaar with about 80 stalls has been set inside the Island Grounds. Vendors there, however, said the sales have been very dull. ‘‘Only 40-50 percent of crackers have been sold so far, compared to the 85% stock sold last year on Deepavali eve,’’ said S Suresh, a vendor in Island Grounds.
On Saturday, though a decent number of the crowd kept coming to the bazaar, vendors said it is easily 20 to 30 percent less than last year’s number. ‘‘Easily two lakh people from all over the city come on Deepavali eve to this bazaar but this year, the footfall has not touched even 1 lakh yet,’’ added Suresh.
The vendors attribute this dip in sales to three things: restricted timings for bursting crackers, cracker prices which have doubled by 20 percent, and a lack of interest among people in general.
P Bhaskar stands outside his stall and invites people to come in. People enter, only to inspect the price and leave. ‘‘People are not aware of the green crackers. Green flower pots and sparklers are 10 percent costlier than last year while the family gift pack costs about Rs. 1200,’’ he said.
The Supreme Court last year banned the sale of high-polluting firecrackers. Following this, green crackers, which is said to contain 30 percent lesser particulate matter and produce lesser noise, were launched by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI).
However, due to fewer manufacturing licenses, green cracker production is very minimal and is only limited to firepots and sparklers. In many shops on Island Grounds, the green crackers were not available at all.
Many parents at the bazaar told Express that prices were the main concern for purchasing fewer crackers. ‘‘We buy crackers only to satisfy children’s interest. It is highly polluting and cracker prizes have gone up. We just purchased cheaper crackers like sparklers, and flowerpots,’’ said Prashant H, a customer at the bazaar.
Meanwhile, vendors hope that crackers sales would reach 90 percent at least by tomorrow. ‘‘One store has stock worth 20 lakhs. Image the loss we would suffer if the sales fall flat tomorrow. We hope it picks up,’’ added Bhaskar.
Traffic at a standstill
Last-minute shopping in prime shopping localities like T Nagar, GA Road in Royapuram, and Purasaiwalkam caused a traffic standstill on Deepavali eve. Traffic police officials were on the run giving vocal instructions to move traffic accompanied by security announcements. Several thousand people were on the roads shopping on Saturday.