Traders protest, vow to finish off stocks

Noida/Ghaziabad: The sudden ban on sale of crackers in NCR has caught shopkeepers by surprise. Those who have already purchased stock to sell for Diwali say they will try to exhaust their stocks anyhow. A few retailers protested outside the city magistrate's office on Monday afternoon in this regard.

Firecracker sellers say that while the wholesalers will not suffer too much loss as their sales will continue into the wedding season, it is the small and seasonal sellers, who bought the product mainly for Diwali, who will be most affected by the ban.

Most retailers selling crackers inside villages of Noida are doing it as a side-business and get limited stock from manufacturers in Delhi or Farookh Nagar in Ghaziabad, which has close to 300 fireworks factories and godowns, out of which only 80 have a licence.

Similarly, the ones in Greater Noida get their stock from Farookh Nagar, Hapur or Meerut.

"Everybody tries to make money around Diwali and gets as much stock as they can afford. I have many friends who have invested around Rs 40,000-50,000 in the stock but are now in a fix," said a seller from Harola village showing his old stock of crackers which he decided to sell off this Diwali.

"Who will leave their stock which they have already purchased? Obviously, we will try to sell it off," he said, on condition of anonymity.

Both wholesalers and retailers are now scared after the ban."We have shut our cracker business. We are not dealing in this since last year," said the manager of Murga Chap Patakhe in Sector 27.

Some of the retailers who have applied for a temporary licence say they will now take their application back.

A retailer in Greater Noida told TOI, "I had decided to shut my business and have already surrendered my TIN (taxpayer identification number, the unique number allotted by commercial tax department of respective state) last year. I had applied for a temporary licence to sell crackers this Diwali like every year but after this news, I think it is better to cancel the plan."

"Manufacturing in GB Nagar is almost a thing of past. Now, 90% of branded crackers come from Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, which are being bought from wholesalers in Delhi and Rohtak. Others buy it from manufacturers in Hapur and Ghaziabad. However, they have started doing it stealthily after the district administration banned importing crackers from across the district in September," said another retailer from Noida Extension.

While they definitely want to clear their stocks this festive season, the sellers can sense that the future is not so bright for them.

In Ghaziabad, a group of firecracker traders held a demonstration in front of the district magistrate's office arguing that they would incur huge financial loss.

"The ban was in place since last year but was relaxed in September. We assumed that business would be as usual so we ordered the stock," said Anupal Prasad, one of the protesting traders. "But now, just 10 days before Diwali the SC banned sale of firecrackers. Someone please tell us what are we supposed to do with our stocks."

Sanjeev Kumar said "I took loan of Rs 5 lakh to buy firecrackers and after the ban I have no idea what I am going to do with it. The SC should not have banned the sale, now who is responsible for the loss I will incur?"

Meanwhile, the district administration is ready to implement the ban.

"The ban will be enforced in letter and spirit and we will not allow the sale of firecrackers," said Priti Jaiswal, ADM) adding, "We will constitute teams to ensure that there is no violation of the ban and at the same time we have instructed all police stations to keep a close watch in their respective areas."