The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Cracker sale picking up, thanks to elections

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 24, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Cracker sale picking up, thanks to elections

By P. Oppili

CHENNAI, APRIL 23. It is virtually a second season for shops which stocked crackers in the George Town area. With the electioneering getting into the top gear, the cracker sale in the city is also picking up.

There are three streets in the area - Badrian Street, Bunder Street and Malaya Perumal Street - where one can see display of crackers in the shops. About 20 shops are selling crackers and each street has about five to six such shops.

Filing nomination papers, holding a public meeting and other similar events, in addition to the usual temple festivals, are some of the important occasions when party cadres rush for crackers.

A majority of the shops have displayed crackers bought during last Deepavali. "Stocks which were not sold after Deepavali have re-appeared on the stands now," said Mohammed Shariff of Madhina Agencies on Bunder Street.

About a week ago, cracker sale gained momentum in this area, he said.

Though the sale is not as high as the traders would have expected, they say, "Heads of most of the political parties are campaigning in districts. When they start returning to the city, the business will pick up," they said.

K.R. Sathya Narayanan of Sathya Agencies on Badrian Street felt that the sale had slowed down with the Election Commission bringing in more and more restrictions for the candidates. Recently, when the Indian cricket team won the Test series in Pakistan, many fans came and asked for crackers. As no shop started the sale then, many returned disappointed, he said.

Though the shops had displayed a variety of crackers, the maximum demand is for the crowd-puller varieties such as `1,000 wala' and `5,000 walas.' An established brand of 1,000 wala will cost Rs. 140 and a 5,000 wala Rs. 700. Second quality crackers are available at much lesser cost.

However, the prices are very flexible. Most of the party cadres bargain with shop owners. The shop owners also settle for a price, when the price suits them well.

M. Basheer of A. Meera Mohideen Sons said his shop was mainly selling party flags, festoons, badges and crackers. The cracker sale was only secondary, he said.

The sale will continue till the results are announced and only then more and more items will be sold, the sellers hope.

During Deepavali, the City Police issue special licence for setting up cracker shops.

However, when contacted, the police said the shops would have acquired permission from the Controller of Explosives, Government of India, to display their materials.

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