The iron gates were shut, offering little indication of what lay behind them. But a knock on the door or a phone call to the warehouse owner was often enough to get them opened. Inside, traders were quietly selling firecrackers to customers who had travelled from across the National Capital Region (NCR) , despite restrictions on their manufacture, storage and sale.
They found that the trade was continuing through locked warehouses, secluded rooms and shops operating under the cover of other businesses. At several locations, customers were waiting outside, while traders initially insisted that sales had stopped following the court orders. But once buyers explained what they wanted and spoke to the operators, the gates opened and transactions went ahead. At some locations, traders were reluctant to sell bombs and ladhis (string crackers) during the day, asking customers to return after dark, when police patrolling was thinner.
On Tuesday, hours after the Supreme Court took note of an HT report exposing the open sale of conventional and unauthorised firecrackers in Delhi markets, HT teams visited six wholesale warehouses across Jhajjar, Pataudi and Bhora Kalan.
“There is a wedding in the family, and with Diwali also around the corner, we thought of buying firecrackers in bulk from Pataudi. Only products certified by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI) and the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) , carrying product-specific QR codes, can be sold. Conventional crackers, those containing barium and joined crackers such as ladhis remain prohibited. In Haryana’s non-NCR districts, only certified green crackers are permitted, and can be burst between 8pm and 10pm on Diwali .
” he said While the comparatively lower prices were certainly one of the reasons that made us travel over 55 km. The Supreme Court on Monday permitted the temporary sale of certified green crackers at designated locations in Delhi-NCR from November 4 to 6. The court has allowed approved green crackers to be burst only between 6am and 7am and 8pm and 10pm on November 7 and 8. The complete ban will be restored from November 9.
Deepak Singhal, a Dwarka resident, said he learnt about the Pataudi warehouse through a friend.
