No temporary licence for cracker sale

NOIDA/GREATER NOIDA: The district administration has decided not to issue temporary licences for selling crackers around Diwali to traders in both Noida and Greater Noida, following the Supreme Court order, banning sale of firecrackers in the National Capital Region (NCR) till November 1.

The administration used to issue temporary licenses to sellers to install a 'rerhi-patri' market (temporary stalls on carts) in Noida's Sector 33 and Greater Noida's Bhangel and Surajpur.

While 1,070 sellers had applied for licenses in Noida, over 70 had applied for the same in Greater Noida.

These traders now won't be issued the temporary licenses for selling crackers in the market around Diwali. Even the five major retailers of fire-crackers in the district, who have already applied for renewal of their permanent license, will now have to wait and watch, as the administration has said they will wait for a detailed Supreme Court order before taking a decision.

Agitated over the administration's decision, around 10 temporary fire-cracker retailers protested outside the city magistrate's office in Sector 19. The administration has already banned the sale of crackers imported from other districts, after a state government order to this affect on September 28.

"We have received 1,070 applications for temporary licenses, which are issued to retailers for three days before Diwali, to install rerhis behind Prakash Hospital in Sector 33. Since the Supreme Court ordered a ban on sale of crackers till November 1, the process has been stopped," city magistrate (Noida), Mahendra Singh told TOI.

City magistrate (Greater Noida) Rajesh Kumar said his office received around 70 applications from retailers, for installing rerhis in Surajpur market this year. "We will not issue licenses to these applicants," he told TOI.

District Magistrate B N Singh said the administration is waiting for the full Supreme Court order to decide on the fate of the permanent licenses. "We have five permanent license holders in the district, whose licenses were in the process of being renewed. They had come for renewal, after Supreme Court modified its previous order, issued in November 2016, which suspended all licences permitting sale of fireworks, wholesale and retail, in the NCR region," additional district magistrate Kumar Vineet told TOI.

In an order issued on September 13 this year, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court had directed authorities to issue half the number of temporary licenses issued for the whole of NCR in 2016, including those issued by Delhi Police and its counterparts in NCR districts, while asking those with permanent licenses to cut sales by half.

"We had sought license renewal when a Supreme Court order in September said that permanent licensees can function, but will have to reduce their sales. Now, even that process is stuck. This feels like cheating," a permanent license holder told TOI.