With just one week to go for Diwali, “temporary” firecracker sellers in popular markets across Delhi said they are still waiting for licences to be able sell this year’s stock.

Delhi Police officials said they are “trying to establish” whether the applicants are in a position to procure and sell ‘green crackers’ as per the Supreme Court’s actions.

“We are trying to establish whether the applicants are in a position to procure and sell ‘green crackers’ or low-emission crackers as mandated by the court,” said MS Randhawa, deputy commissioner of police (central), under who the Jama Masjid cracker market falls.

The apex court had on Wednesday reiterated for the third time in eight days that only green crackers can be sold and burst in the National Capital Region (NCR).

On Thursday, police officers tasked with issuing licenses to dealers said they were still “short-listing” the temporary license applications and the process should be completed by Friday.

DCP Randhawa said the central district police received 27 applications this year against around 100 last year. He attributed the low demand to the alleged lack of clarity over which crackers would qualify as ‘green’.

Officials and experts said that in the absence of availability of green crackers, the court order effectively puts a ban on the sale of firecrackers.

Dealers at Jama Masjid, one of the largest cracker wholesale markets in the city, said that around 10 days before the festival, permissions usually start rolling out. Last year, apart from permanent shops on the streets, licences were issued to 52 vendors here.

This year, however, they have already knocked the doors of police stations several times, but there have been no signs of licences being issued.

Losses for dealers

Dealers, meanwhile, said it looks like the SC order will mean losses for them.

“We have submitted our applications but are yet to hear from the police. The news is that only ‘green crackers’ are allowed this time. We should have been told this when we were buying our stock. Now it looks like we will have to bear huge losses,” said Noor-e-Ahmed, a firecracker dealer near Jama Masjid in Old Delhi.

At Sadar Bazar too, dealers were waiting for their licences.

Only two permanent shops in the markets have the 12-month licence. These have also voluntarily decided to keep their shutters down because of the confusion.

Nupur Prasad, DCP (north), said the delay in issuing the licenses were because of the ongoing verification process, which should be completed by Friday. “We are checking if the temporary shops meet a 12-point requirement which includes the space and quality of material used in the shops and whether they are located at a place accessible by fire tenders,” said Prasad.

Dhruv Prakash, a roadside vendor at Sadar Bazar, said he was being forced to sell only decorative items at a time when he should have been making money on crackers. “The previous years, the entire intersection would be filled with cracker vendors,” he said.

DCP Prasad said one man has been arrested from Sadar Bazar with 23 kilos of illegal crackers.

First Published: Nov 02, 2018 08:31 IST