Cops seal shops selling firecrackers

A day after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a statewide ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers to prevent air pollution, the Gurugram Police on

A day after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a statewide ban on the sale and bursting of firecrackers to prevent air pollution, the Gurugram Police on Saturday carried out a sealing drive of shops selling crackers. A police official said videography of shops selling crackers was done on Saturday morning and traders were directed to stop selling crackers till November 30 as per the directive of the government.

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The city has 11 major cracker dealers and six stockists also called magazine holders, located mostly in Qaddipur and Ghadoli villages, on the outskirts of the city.

Gurugram Police said that the traders were asked to stop the sale of crackers on Saturday morning itself after the ban was announced by the chief minister on Friday. “Videography of shops was carried out in the morning and traders were asked to resume sale only after November 30, when the ban is supposed to be revoked,” said inspector Sanjay Kumar, SHO, Sector 10, whose area has a number of such shops.

The district administration is yet to issue a formal direction in this regard but the traders, who ceased operations due to police action on Saturday morning, said that their business will be greatly affected due to the ban.

The traders said roughly 12 to15 crore of sales happens during Diwali. The ban will greatly affect the business. They said that every year, governments announce a ban on crackers without consulting them and give them no time to prepare.

Anil Nagpal, a trader based in Qadipur, said that around 2,500 to 3,000 people are engaged in this business in this city and their income would be badly hit. “Who will buy crackers after November 30. Most of the sale of crackers happen before Diwali. Further, we are selling only green crackers, which cause very less pollution and are more expensive than normal crackers. The government should have at least given us a couple of days so that we could have prepared for this situation,” said Nagpal.

The traders said that a delegation also met the district authorities in this regard but they were told that the ban was being imposed on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pawan Kumar Jhamb, another cracker dealer, said that the government should listen to their plight and allow for a limited sale of green crackers. “A lot of traders have taken stock on credit and this ban will ensure that they won’t be able to make payments throughout the year as 80% of the revenue is generated during Diwali,” he said.

On Friday, the public relations department of the Haryana government posted a tweet stating that with a view to preventing the risk of spread of Covid-19 due to the polluted atmosphere created by the bursting of crackers, the Haryana government has decided to put a complete ban on the sale of crackers in the state.

Despite repeated attempts, Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, and Prashant Panwar, additional deputy commissioner, did not respond to requests for comment.