Chandigarh, Oct 19: A festive rush filled Chandigarh’s cracker markets on Saturday as licensed vendors opened their stalls for the sale of green firecrackers. The administration has allowed sales till Monday, with bursting permitted only between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali night under pollution-control norms.
The UT Administration this year received 4,539 applications for temporary licences, but only 96 were approved through a lottery held on September 10. Vendors have been set up at 12 designated locations, including Dussehra ground in Sector 43, Sector 46 rehri market ground, and Manimajra.
Officials said licence holders have pledged to sell only green crackers certified by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI). Each vendor paid ₹15,000 as GST and is required to comply with Supreme Court and NGT orders.
The highest rush for allotment was seen at Sector 46, where 858 people applied for space, followed closely by Sector 43 with 850 applicants. Fire brigade teams have been deployed across all selling sites to ensure safety.
Despite the restrictions, reports of unauthorised cracker sales have emerged from city outskirts and villages. “Monitoring teams are on the job to check and seize banned crackers,” said a senior official.
Authorities expect the city’s pollution levels to stay moderate this festive season, helped by early-October rains and a decline in stubble burning incidents in neighbouring Punjab.
The sale will continue for the next two days, after which stalls will be removed from public spaces.
