“Even after the formation of Telangana the prices are high,” mumbled an irate customer at a firework store in the city on Tuesday, even as the seller looked on flummoxed.
Denizens buying fireworks complain about firework prices increased sharply over previous years, even as sellers maintain that price rise has been in tune with those seen in previous years.
“There are no new varieties this year. The same crackers sold last year are being sold at exorbitant prices. Even those shops which claim to sell at wholesale price, are charging heavily,” said Senthil Murgappan, a resident of Safilguda, who was in Afzalgunj on Tuesday to buy Rs 5,000 worth fireworks for his family.
Like Murgappan, grocer K. Ravinder Reddy too was unhappy with the prices. “The price on some fireworks has gone up nearly 30 per cent, making them unaffordable,” he said.
Sellers maintain that prices rose only by 10 per cent, which is inevitable.
“The labour and input costs have gone up. The same is reflected in the retail prices,” said Purshotham Das of Vishnu Fireworks. Sellers say efforts to reduce input costs through use of Chinese machinery for firework manufacture, has not helped. Machine-made crackers are more expensive, they said.
