PMC doubles rent for firecrackers stall

With elections and Diwali coming up in a couple of weeks, one would expect firecracker sellers to be all smiles.

With elections and Diwali coming up in a couple of weeks, one would expect firecracker sellers to be all smiles.

However, they are an angry lot, thanks to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The PMC has upped the rates for these sellers to put up stalls in the Mhatre bridge area by a whopping 100 per cent. Last year, the sellers were charged Rs 1,215 per day, but this year, they will have to pay double Rs 2,430 per day. This means the sellers will have to cough up Rs 58,320 for the 24-day contract.

Exorbitant
"The amount is exorbitant and absolutely illogical," said Appa Amrale, president, Saras Baug Phataka Dealers Association. "The hike should have been between 10 to 12 per cent." He added that the hike has discouraged 14 of the 70 vendors who had put up stalls last year from doing so this year. Vendors anyway expect the swine flu scare to negatively affect business this year by 50 per cent, he said.

Unaffordable
Agreed Prashant Joshi, a firecracker seller at Mhatre Bridge. "Many of us can't afford the rent, as we are not sure we will get even minimum business this year. We have already suffered a loss of 30 per cent."

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