Mysuru cracker dealers face dark Deepawali

Mysuru: The State government's order that the people should celebrate Deepavali with green crackers has taken lights out of the life of dealers in Mysuru who already invested over 70 lakh as early as March. As a result of the confusion over green crackers, the dealers are hardly finding any customers this Deepavali.

Speaking to The Hans India, Manikanth, a wholesale dealer for the past 22 years, explained that following Supreme Court orders in 2018, several companies have been manufacturing only green crackers. They are manufactured using a specific formula and certain chemicals which cause less air and noise pollution. There are at least five licensed wholesale dealers at Hebbal industrial area. While we usually get our stock in March itself, owing to Covid-19 we got 30 percent less crackers this time. We have got only green crackers from manufacturers in Shivakashi in Tamil Nadu," he said. "People used to start buying crackers a week ahead of Deepavali but this year, owing to the pandemic and the government order, people are not coming forward to buy crackers though only two days are left for the festival due to the confusion. We have permission to sell crackers from 7 November to 16 November," he said.

Manikanth said that the life of 60-80 families who have put up stalls across the city has turned dark this year. Every year during Deepavali there used to be a turnover of Rs 1 crore in cracker sales in Mysuru alone, he said.