The District Consumers’ Cooperative Wholesale Stores has opened its stalls across Vellore and the neighbouring districts with less noisy crackers for this festival season.
District Collectors in Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur inaugurated government crackers stores on Tuesday. In Vellore, Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian opened them on Monday. Sparklers, flower pots, pencils, chakkars, rockets and night sky shots form around 60% of crackers in these districts.
With the easing of lockdown restrictions, cooperative society officials were expecting more sales. Each of the four districts had set a sale target of ₹1 crore. “Fire safety measures and COVID-19 safety measures have been taken at temporary cracker shops in the district. Special teams have been formed to ensure these shops follow the norms,” said B. Murugesh, Collector, Tiruvannamalai.
Respective district administrations have given licence to temporary cracker shops to run their outlets only for a month.
The Superintendents of Police in these districts have also set up low cost cracker shops at the district headquarters for their personnel and the public.
“After nearly a year and a half, we are going to celebrate Deepavali with more sparkling crackers. Our children always prefer flower pots and sparklers,” said S. Vanitha, a resident in Katpadi.
Special police teams were formed to monitor the cracker shops in these districts. Some of the safety aspects that are monitored at these shops include adequate space, better ventilation, safe storage facilities, fire extinguishers and less crowded spots.
A weekly safety audit will also be done by the district administration.
Meanwhile, Collectors in these districts issued a circular stating that all PDS outlets in these districts will function between 8 a.m and 7 p.m from November 1 to 3 to provide essential items before Deepavali.
