Srinagar, Sept 5: With Hurriyat (G) chairman, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, appealing to the people to observe Eid-ul-Fitr with austerity, the traders dealing with fire crackers have stopped placing fresh orders for the merchandise. 

 “This Eid I have not placed any order for fire crackers because of the prevailing situations. Otherwise last Eid I had bought stocks worth Rs 2 lakh,” said a trader at Maharaja Bazaar here adding “not many customers are looking for crackers this time, which used to be in huge demand during the festival.”

 The traders said the firecrackers were not being kept on display, but were dumped in godowns. “I used to place orders for Eid and Diwali simultaneously. But this year I have not done so keeping in view the prevailing unrest. In fact my previous stocks worth Rs 10,000 to 15,000 are lying in godown,” said a trader at Nowhatta here.

 President Readymade Fireworks Dealers’ Association, Khursheed Ahmad Shah, said they had advertised through press also that there shall be no sale of crackers on this Eid.

 “Even before separatists appealed for observing the Eid with austerity, we had decided not to go for sale of crackers this Eid, for it really makes no sense to celebrate given the fact that children of Kashmir are being killed everyday,” he said.

 Shah said the members registered with the Association used to procure crackers worth over Rs 30 lakh on every Eid. “We would order some varieties exclusively for Eid, like colour crackers, fancy crackers, etc, which don’t cause any harm to children. But there is no such variety this time,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST