Cracker Vendors Face Problems in Diwali Sale
The revenue divisional office did receive 128 applications from the vendors, but no single application was from Kakinada Urban till Friday night
KAKINADA: A cracker crisis looms large in the run-up to the festival of light, sound and colours.
The revenue office in Kakinada has not received a single application for the licence to sell crackers for the three-day Diwali festival. The reason: cracker vendors in the city are caught in a predicament.
They are reluctant to insure their shops against likely mishaps, also as a committee led by a Telugu Desam leader here is having a stranglehold over the trade. The committee takes a hefty sum to “arranges” the licence for each vendor/shop.
The revenue divisional office did receive 128 applications from the vendors, but no single application was from Kakinada Urban till Friday night. Diwali is set for Monday.
If any cracker vendor wants to establish a cracker shop, he should approach the leader through this committee and pay `50,000 to it. The committee would submit all applications to the revenue office by paying the licence fees and erect temporary shops that would have sand, water, lighting etc.
Last year, each vendor paid `35,000 to the committee. This year, the payment amount was increased to `50,000. Many vendors could not reconcile this situation.
According to government instructions, each vendor has to pay only `3,000 to establish a cracker shop at Mc Laurens High School grounds, or `6000 for the Boat Club grounds. The vendor has also to pay GST and tax for the fire department apart from the insurance amount.
Curiously, the committee is reluctant to pay the insurance amount to the government and would rather keep the money.
Revenue officials, on their part, would not accept the applications unless the applicants paid the insurance amount. They made it clear to the committee members that cracker business is a dangerous business, and if any untoward incidents occurred, the insurance amount would be of help to the vendor.
The officials convened a meeting with representatives of General Insurance and SBI and advised the committee’s leadership to choose one of these, whichever they felt comfortable. The committee leadership ‘rejected’ the proposal. Revenue officials made it clear that the vendors would be given the licence to run their shops only if they fulfilled the government rules and guidelines.
Large-scale sale of crackers etc would begin on Saturday.
In view of the stand-off, cracker vendors are not showing much interest in setting up their shops. Last year, as many as 100 vendors set up their shops in Mc Laurens School. This time, the vendor number may not exceed 70. Vendors say they are not ready to bear the risk and the monopoly in the trade.
Meanwhile, officials identified the areas for use as cracker grounds – namely the Mc Laurens High School, the Boat Club, the ground opposite to JNTUK and two other spots.
According to sources, the fire and police departments are not giving their permission, also as Telugu Desam leaders are pushing for certain places due to last year's experience.
Notably, on October 8, nine persons had been killed in a cracker blast. In view of this, the officials are strictly following the rules in giving permissions to the vendors this time.
