Chandigarh Admn to allot 12 sites for sale of green crackers

With the approaching of Diwali festival, the UT Administration has planned to give licence to 96 vendors for selling green firecrackers at 12 designated sites across the city.

The UT Administrator has given approval to start the process of allotment of the sites to firecracker sellers.

The office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) is likely to issue a notification on the schedule for allotment of sites to vendors on Monday, in which the date of online application as well as the date of draw will be mentioned. There will be eight to 10 shops at each site. Vendors will be allowed to sell firecrackers for only three days. Last year, 790 people had applied for 96 sites.

Applications will be sought from the interested vendors online and the draw will also be held online ensuring transparency and ease of access for vendors.

The Administration has decided to allow bursting of only green crackers for two hours between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali, October 31. On Gurpurb, November 15, the window will be from 4 am to 5 am and from 9 pm to 10 pm.

The Cracker Dealers Association has expressed resentment over the delay in starting the process for issuance of licence for selling firecrackers in the city.

Chirag Aggarwal, general secretary of the association, stated that the festival season had already started, but the UT Administration was yet to start the process for allotment of sites. Nearly, a fortnight was left for Diwali, and they were yet to place the order for purchase of green crackers, he said, adding that the delay would affect their business, as it would be difficult to procure firecrackers at the last moment.

In a letter to DC Vinay Pratap Singh, the association had requested that the process of draw of licences should have been initiated before the onset of the festival season so that only the successful applicants can make bookings with wholesalers.

For availing the stock of crackers, the order booking have started by the wholesalers elsewhere. However in Chandigarh, the successful applicant could purchase crackers only after the draw of the licences by the administration, whereby the vendors suffer from last minute harassment.

Last year also, many vendors who were not successful in the draw had to suffer financial loss due to prior booking of orders. They demanded that temporary stall area for selling of cracker be increased from 15x15 ft to 15x30 ft. That the vendors are authorised to put the cracker stalls in the area of 15x15 ft at the designated sites, the space is insufficient. The association urged that the stall area be increased to 15x30 ft, for the proper display and sale of crackers.

Notificaton likely to be issued today

• The DC office is likely to issue a notification on the schedule for allotment of sites to vendors on Monday
• The date of online application as well as the date of draw will be mentioned
• There will be around 10 shops at each site. Vendors will be allowed to sell firecrackers for only three days