Though Diwali is considered to be a festival of joy, this delight seems to be fading for firecracker sellers with each passing year. According to traders at Navi Mumbai&rsquo;s biggest firecracker marketplace near the APMC market, Vashi, business is no longer profitable.
<img title="Traders claim one of the reasons for dwindling sales is the diminishing interest for firecrackers" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/2015/nov/Fire-cracker.jpg" alt="Traders claim one of the reasons for dwindling sales is the diminishing interest for firecrackers" />Traders claim one of the reasons for dwindling sales is the diminishing interest for firecrackers
They claimed that despite commencement of Diwali, the business remains less than 50 per cent. &ldquo;We have been putting up stalls for the last three days, but have hardly received any customers. People are no longer fond of crackers like they were a few years ago.
Demand has dropped drastically. Lakshmi pujan is just two days away and I haven&rsquo;t even sold 20 per cent of the stock,&rdquo; said Sudhir Dhonde, owner of a stall near APMC market.
The great slump Traders stated that awareness campaigns &mdash; among schoolchildren and on social media platforms &mdash; against the hazardous effects of crackers on health and environment have led to a further decline in demand.
&ldquo;The market is slow and, these days, only a handful of buyers are purchasing firecrackers. Overall, the slump in demand is over 25 per cent,&rdquo; said Anil Helekar, who has been in this business for 30 years and is the president of the firecracker market.
&ldquo;Business has been moderate this year. The demand, in comparison to the last year, has come down considerably because the craze of bursting firecrackers is fast vanishing,&rdquo; said a trader from Essabhai Fire Works. The company owns and operates one of the biggest shops at Mohammed Ali Road in Mumbai.
&ldquo;In the past decade, the number of burns patients coming during Diwali has shrunk to just a third of what it used to be. Many have stopped bursting firecrackers due to an increase in awareness campaigns that are conducted every year,&rdquo; said Dr Sunil Keswani, director, National Burns Centre in Airoli.

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Traders claim awareness campaigns against hazardous effects of firecrackers have affected the demand drastically

Cracker sales in Mumbai slump by 50%

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Cracker sales in Mumbai slump by 50%

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