Firecracker sales affected by untimely rain, recession

Mumbai: The firecracker business in the city is going slower as compared to previous years and shopkeepers are attributing it to the untimely rains and the recession.

Even the supposedly environment-friendly crackers, developed by government agencies, are not easily available in the wholesale market at Muhammad Ali Road.

Many shopkeepers in the nearby Jama Masjid and Minara Masjid areas are desisting from setting up temporary stalls on footpaths for selling crackers. The most sought-after crackers include the anaar, fuljhari, rocket, sutali bomb, laxmi bomb and sky crackers.

Ali Asgar of Musa fireworks said, “This year, the sale of fire crackers has remained low as compar-ed to what it used to be in previous years. Earlier, we used to do good business before the beginning of Diwali but this year, the crowd is not as expected.”

Ajay Shah, the owner of a firecracker shop which is also a firecracker agency Standard Firew-orks, said, “We are incurring losses due to recession and rains. Because of untimely rains, people are not bursting crackers and due to recession, no one is ready to spend money on the same.”

Meanwhile, the “green crackers” which the Supreme Court has allowed to be burst during Diwali are barely there in the market a day before the festival.

The problem several shopkeepers cited was that very few types of green crackers are available as compared to the wide variety of conventional crackers for which the demand is higher.

The Supreme Court in 2018 banned conventional firecrackers and allowed only green firecrackers, which cause 30 per cent less pollution.