No crackers’ sale in Patiala this Diwali, says DC

Sale of crackers will not be allowed in the city as authorities are not going to issue any temporary licence to traders. KUMAR AMIT, Patiala DC The ban is unjustified. We are ruined. It is bizarre that people are allowed to purchase crackers from outside the city and burst them here. AMANPREET SINGH, trader

PATIALA:With the district administration not issuing temporary licences, the royal city will not have any sale of fire crackers this Diwali. “Sale of crackers will not be allowed anywhere in the city as authorities are not going to issue any temporary licence to traders for this,” deputy commissioner Kumar Amit told HT over phone.

He added, “The decision has been taken on the basis of the orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court issued in 2017. The order had said that the number of temporary licences issued for sale of firecrackers shall not exceed 20% of the number issued in the previous year.” The HC order had been issued a few days before Diwali.

“We have set 2016 as the base year as per court orders. Then, only one temporary license was issued for the sale of crackers during Diwali that year. So, we have no provision to issue any licence this year,” he said, adding that last year, they had allowed traders to set up stalls in the open area in the Polo Ground.

“We are not going to allow a public market meant for sale of crackers at the Polo Ground. People will be allowed to burn crack- ers between 8-10pm on Diwali. People might get crackers from outside the district,” the DC went to add. Additional deputy commissioner Showkat Ahmad Parray said, “People selling crackers will be booked under relevant sections of the IPC.”

A cracker trader, Amanpreet Singh said, “The ban is unjustified. We are ruined. It is bizarre that people are allowed to purchase crackers from outside the city and burst them here.”