Banned crackers on sale in Ggm village
GURUGRAM: Despite a ban imposed by the Supreme Court (SC) last year, firecrackers are still available for sale in Gadoli, just 10km away from the city. Though fewer shops have stocked these polluting crackers this year, a couple of them which opened for business on Monday witnessed a rush of buyers from as far as Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The police have said they would start cracking down on such sellers from Tuesday.
Rishabh Jain, a student who had come with his friends from Rajasthan to buy firecrackers, said, “My friends and I have come from Jaipur and we are not even looking at the price tag. Last year, there was a ban on firecrackers. This year, no one is selling them in my city. We came to know about this place through Whatsapp messages and drove five hours to be here.”
There were at least 30-40 other people looking to buy firecrackers there.
A shop running from a warehouse in Gadoli was selling the stock at almost triple the usual price. A 500-piece ladi (cracker garland) which would have been available in the market for ₹1000 is being sold for ₹3000; a box of fuljhadi (sparklers) that used to cost about ₹150 were being sold for ₹400, and the price of hunters was up from ₹200 to ₹500.
Sidharth Chaudhary, a Gurugram resident, said, “A pack of rockets, which would come for ₹1,000, is being sold for ₹5,000. But, we don’t mind paying. At least we are getting firecrackers. I am storing firecrackers for Diwali, as you never know when there will be a crackdown and this place will also shut down.”
The shopkeeper, who claimed to be a wholesale trader of firecrackers, also said that he wanted to sell off his stock that has remain unsold for the last two years before the administration and the police start cracking down. “Firecrackers don’t come with any price tag printed, so we can write anything. Till last year, we had licence to sell firecrackers, but after the ban, we had to at least clear what we have in our stocks,” the wholesaler who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, adding that there were at least 15-20 sellers in the area till last year. “On Monday, just two shops were open,” he said.
In 2018, the Supreme Court banned the sale of firecrackers across the county. Supreme Court lawyer Haripriya Padmanabhan and the mother of a petitioner who represented those seeking the ban on the sale of firecrackers said, “The same ban on firecrackers which was there last year by the Supreme Court, exists this year too. No shopkeeper is allowed to sell firecrackers which are not ecofriendly. Anyone, who does so, is going against the judiciary and the local administration should take action against them.”
NO TAKERS FOR GREEN CRACKERS
Green crackers are available in Gadoli, but are few in number. “The sale of green crackers is nothing; none of the customers are buying them. Everyone wants crackers with sound,” said the wholesaler.
ENFORCERS READY
Last year, the district administration had rejected all applications for temporary licences to sell crackers and imposed a ban on the sale of old stock in the wake of the Supreme Court’s order.
Gurugram deputy commissioner Amit Khatri said, “Action will be taken against violators under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code, which carries a maximum jail term of six months, or a fine of ₹1,000 or both.”
On Monday, the Gurugram Police also issued directions to 40 station house officers (SHO) in the city to implement the Supreme Court’s order, allowing the sale and use of only green crackers between 8pm and 10pm on Diwali.
Police commissioner Muhammad Akil said they will arrest people bursting crackers beyond the allowed time limit and also those selling polluting crackers as no licences were issued this year. “The teams will conduct raids at suspected locations to check if anyone is selling crackers apart from green crackers. Also, we have no mechanism to check green crackers so we have roped in teams from the anti-pollution board who will check and alert us if crackers being burst are green or not,” he said.
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