Green crackers to be small in size, but big on price tag

Draw of lots for giving away temporary licences for setting up green cracker stalls is also on in various districts of Punjab.

A talk with cracker dealers revealed that the size of crackers has been reduced and even the polluting chemicals in the crackers have been replaced with low potency chemicals so as to meet the criteria of green crackers.

For example, the size of new flower pot cracker (‘anar’), which is a big source of pollution, this year has been reduced to 4 inches against some 6-7 inches last year.

Coloured sparkler (phuljhari) does maximum pollution which is now out from the market and now only golden or silver sparklers are available.

The size of comets which give a sparkling view in the sky has also changed.

“The comet size has been reduced to 3 inches now which will burst at a shorter distance in the sky and hence pollution levels will be bare minimum. In addition to this, classic bombs are of 8 ply against 11-12 ply layers which were available earlier. This will control noise pollution. Many crackers that used to burst for a few minutes creating a loud noise have disappeared from the market altogether,” said Tribhuvan Thaper, an old cracker dealer in Ludhiana.

For the festival revellers, this Green Diwali will come with a price, literally.

A pack of 10 ‘chakris’ which was sold at Rs 10 earlier is now available at Rs 120, while flower pot crackers are now priced at around Rs 70 a pack (pack of 10) against Rs 45 last year.

The rate of sparklers has now gone up to around Rs 30 for a 10-piece pack against Rs 12 for a similar pack last year.

Maximum sale of firecrackers is likely to happen next weekend as Diwali falls on Monday (October 24) this year.
In Fazilka, lots for licences for 67 firecracker stalls at Abohar, Jalalabad, Balluana and Fazilka were drawn on Thursday, while in Ludhiana the lots will be drawn on Friday. A total of 37 licences will be issued in Ludhiana city area alone.

This year against the average 70-75 applications for cracker stalls, over 250 applications have already been received in Ludhiana.

Sources revealed that many new applicants with no experience in the business of crackers have applied for temporary licence and such files are being scrutinised by Kaustubh Sharma, Commissioner of Police, Ludhiana.

Sources say some customers are still asking for the same old crackers. “Those who have some previous year’s stock left may be able to oblige, otherwise such crackers are not in market now. However, only on Diwali, the picture will be clear whether the green cracker protocol has been adhered to or not,” said a cracker dealer in Ludhiana on the condition of anonymity.

Kaustubh Sharma said, “We will go by the book for allotment of licences, and those with experience will get preference.”