No takers for Chinese crackers

Vijayawada: Over 80 firecrackers shops established at the Swarajya Maidan in Vijayawada this Diwali season have no Chinese crackers making the slogan 'Boycott Chinese crackers' seen in social media a reality. Almost all traders have purchased Indian products and been selling only Made in India crackers.

Though Chinese crackers are cheap compared to the Indian ones, most buyers are reluctant to buy Chinese crackers. Another important aspect is the customers are giving top priority to less pollution and less noise cracker products.

With only one-day left for the Diwali festival, thousands of people thronged firecracker shops on Saturday evening to purchase wide variety of crackers with less sound pollution ones. Neither traders nor customers are showing interest to purchase Chinese crackers.

Traditional brands are visible in all shops and customers are also choosy on Made in India crackers. Till Saturday afternoon, the traders were disappointed with rain. The rush suddenly increased and buyers thronging since Saturday evening, said a trader K Narsaiah, of Sri Veeranjaneya fireworks.

Narsaiah, one among the 80 traders, has spent Rs 1 lakh for installation of shop in makeshift shed. The government has given permission only on Friday for the sale of crackers and it will conclude on Sunday.

Narsaiah says there is no demand for the Chinese firecrackers and most customers are insisting to buy made in India crackers. Standard, Ajanta, Tirumala, Ashoka, Sivaraj, Vimal, Murugan and other Indian brands are available in the cracker shops, he added.

K Ramesh, a State government employee, said Indian crackers are safe and we habituated to buy these from the childhood.

Ramesh along with his family visited the Swarajya Maidan and purchased crackers to celebrate the Festival of Lights. Compared to the last year, the sale of crackers declined this year due to impact of slowdown and stalling of construction activity in the city and State.

Another trader R Srinivas said manufacturing of crackers and other related materials is gradually declining in the country due to restrictions imposed on the timing of bursting crackers and increasing of awareness among the people on the sound pollution caused by the crackers.

Festival spirit in the city is declined due to the impact of economic slowdown and also due to lack of income in the backdrop of stalling construction activity. Lakhs of construction workers in the capital region of Vijayawada and Guntur have lost their livelihood for four months.

Moreover, the nationwide economic slowdown too has its impact on the common people. Most middle-class and poor people are not in a position to spend huge amount of money to buy crackers and celebrate the festival in a grand manner.