For city firecracker sellers, who tasted a bitter pill last Deepavalli owing to shifting of shops to Punnami Ghat, this year seems an encouraging one as the authorities allowed them to set them up in places like the Gymkhana Grounds at Gandhinagar, Swaraj Maidan and Patamata’s Rythu Bazaar.
But what is worrying these licensed hawkers is the weather prediction by the Meteorological Department. “The heavy rainfall prediction over coastal Andhra is disturbing. We wish for a bright blazing sun in the next two days,” said Pandu, a licensed hawker at the Gymkhana Grounds, while unloading his stocks.
Price war
Many sellers feared that super bazaar outlets might offer huge discounts which would affect their business. “That is the reason we are offering 75 % discount as offered by the Vijayakrishna super bazaar. We are anticipating good business from the morning of October 19,” said Alapati Ramesh, a trader, who is into the business for the past four years.
The hawkers said that they would start selling crackers after getting necessary clearances from the Police and Fire Services Departments.
Mr. Ramesh said while most shop owners bought the stocks from wholesalers at Tadepalligudem, Chilakaluripeta, Mangalagiri and Gannavaram; some lifted the stocks straight from Sivakasi factories in Tamil Nadu.
For the cracker buffs, a good number of new varieties are available at the stalls. “We have several new rockets and bombs among the latest arrivals,” said Mr. Ganesh of Boddapati Fire Works.
However, the growing awareness among the people about the dangerous consequences of noise and toxic pollution due to bursting of crackers may impact the sales.
