168 vendors in Delhi get licence for firecracker sale, more may be added

While 15 licences were granted on Thursday, the total count increased to 90 on Friday, indicating an uptick in demand.

A total of 168 vendors have been granted a licence until Saturday for selling green firecrackers in Delhi, according to Delhi Police, who said that another 10 applications were under review and will be finalised by Sunday morning.

Green firecrackers sale is only allowed from October 18 to October 20. (Sanchit Khanna/HT Photo)

While 15 licences were granted on Thursday, the total count increased to 90 on Friday, indicating an uptick in demand. However, 78 more licences were granted on Saturday.

A senior police officer told HT, “We had to pull out records from 2020 and see who all had temporary licences and called them. Some said they were not aware of the Supreme Court guidelines, others said they felt the guidelines felt overwhelming and it was short notice for them. However, we did encourage many to come on Friday.”

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court allowed the sale of green firecrackers in Delhi NCT, but this came with a restriction that vendors needed a temporary licence and the sale was only allowed from October 18 to October 20. Their use is also limited to two windows – from 6am to 7am and 8pm to 10pm on October 19 and 20.

For a temporary licence, applicants require permissions from three departments, namely the DCP (deputy commissioner of police) office, the district magistrate, and the fire department. Applicants need to furnish documents mentioning the shop registration number, Aadhaar, PAN, permission from the fire department, a map showing sufficient area for fire tenders to approach, and pictures of the premises.

On Friday, police said most of the applications were from outer Delhi, west Delhi, central Delhi, north Delhi and east Delhi.

Police said that there are no specific designated spots for sales. As of now, deputy commissioners of police and the licensing department of Delhi Police are processing all these applications. “The vendors have already some shops and stalls. Based on the applications, we will make those as designated shops,” the officer said.