Uttarakhand: Sale of crackers going down with every season, claim sellers

DEHRADUN: Sellers of crackers in the city claim that due to the economic slowdown, among other factors, the sale of crackers is going down with every passing Diwali season.
“Over the years, the sale of crackers is falling down at an increasing rate. Some years back, there used to be around 20 cracker stalls at the Araghar Chowk. This year, the number has reduced to just two.From the next year, I am planning to sell Chinese lights or dry fruits because they are more in demand. I just hope that this year, the sale goes up at least on Diwali eve,” said Amit Yadav, a cracker seller.
"As compared to last year, our revenue has gone down by 50%. Earlier, the printed price on the products was more so it gave us a higher profit margin and also some room to give some discount to customers but all this is not possible this year,” Yadav added.
Naveen Bhandari, another shopkeeper said, “The sale is very poor even on the day of Dhanteras. GST has severely impacted us as it has increased the manufacturing cost by at least 30%. The business is going down with every passing year."
Interestingly, anti-crackers awareness programmes running in schools have also been pointed out as a major factor for the fall in business of crackers.
Rashmi Gupta, a teacher in a city school said that many of her students have voluntarily given up burning crackers. "The students have taken a decision to not burn crackers considering the adverse impact that it has on the environment, and are also urging others in their localities not to do so."