Most buyers continue to pick up regular crackers

Scarce information in public domain on availability of ‘green crackers’ in Hyderabad

A row of shops selling firecrackers have popped up on either side of the road near Purana Pul. Some shops are in the process of being set up. “This looks like a kick in the belly. Last year we had 30 shops now there are 40 shops. We have done zero business,” says Subhakar who invested a few hundred thousand rupees for the two-day business that begins with Dhanteras and ends hours before Deepavali in a rush of shoppers. “Do you have green crackers?”

“We have regular crackers,” he says showing the crackers some of which don’t even have the manufacturing or expiry date.

When a citizen wanted to find the location where she could pick up some green crackers. She was bombarded with information about shops selling regular crackers instead of ‘green crackers’. Begum Bazaar, which is known as the business destination for crackers, too turned up nothing. It is at Ameerpet that people are queuing up to buy green crackers. “Some people are asking for it. The crackers which have ‘green crackers’ written on them are in demand. But most people are not looking at the tags,” says the owner of the shop.