Though Deepavali is just two days away, salesmen at stalls in the city selling crackers say sales are yet to catch up.
While many of them say incessant rains in the last few days have forced customers to postpone their purchases to a day or two before the festival, the salesmen say that the overall demand for crackers has come down over the years.
“Crackers are fast losing their sheen among the public. While children used to be our target audience, many of them now are aware of the environmental concerns since they are told about it at the school level,” admits the manager of a fireworks stall in the city.
A 10 per cent increase in rates of fireworks from last year owing to increase in labour and material costs have also forced people to have a rethink, he adds.
There is a stable customer base only for a few specific varieties of crackers on sale, opine sellers.
“There is a less demand for crackers that emit high levels of sound or go off with a lot of smoke, and fireworks which go up in the sky are preferred,” said K. Logesh, a salesman at a cracker stall.
Customers who purchased crackers at stalls in the city on Sunday too said they had reduced their purchases over the years given the increasing prices and environmental concerns.
“While sounds of firecrackers could be heard at least a month before Deepavali till a few years back, there are hardly any people bursting crackers in our locality. There is a very noticeable decline,” said S. Venkatasubramanian, an advocate and a resident of Iyer Bungalow.
