Buy fast, cops will be here: Illegal crackers fly off shelves in Delhi as cops themselves shop
India Today · Anand Singh ·
The Supreme Court has allowed only certified green crackers in Delhi-NCR but is anyone checking what is actually being sold India Today Digital039s ground check at Delhi039s biggest cracker market Sadar Bazar found questionable products clueless sellers and security personnel who looked more interested in buying crackers than in enforcing the SC-mandated rules
The Supreme Court has allowed only certified green crackers in Delhi-NCR, but is anyone checking what is actually being sold? India Today Digital's ground check at Delhi's biggest cracker market, Sadar Bazar, found questionable products, clueless sellers and security personnel who looked more interested in buying crackers than in enforcing the SC-mandated rules.
The festive bustle of Diwali has taken over Delhi's biggest firecracker market, Sadar Bazar, but there's another kind of spectacle unfolding in the streets. Firecrackers are being burst right in the market even as shoppers navigate its narrow lanes. Sellers themselves demonstrated their products to prospective buyers, and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air. On Friday morning, the day of Dhanteras, Delhi's biggest wholesale market for firecrackers, was already sounding like Diwali night.
Amid the crowd, however, there was little to suggest that the Supreme Court's restrictions on firecrackers were being taken seriously. Neither those enforcing the restrictions nor the shopkeepers and consumers they are meant for. Stalls were selling firecrackers with QR codes that offer no information when scanned, unfamiliar and questionable brands, and fireworks that don't meet green-cracker standards.
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