Less noisy crackers to add to the festival mood in Vellore, nearby districts

VELLORE

This Deepavali, more light-emitting crackers will add to the festival mood in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai. The British-era District Consumers’ Cooperative Wholesale Stores has opened stalls at Karpagam Cooperative Society across these districts, selling less noisy green crackers.

The Collectors in Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur opened the government crackers stores a few days ago. Sparklers, flower- pots, pencils, chakkars, rockets and night sky shots account for 60% of the total stocks of crackers in these districts.

Cooperative society officials expect an average sale of ₹50 lakh in each of these districts. “The rules for bursting of crackers will be strictly enforced. Fire fighters are on alert,” said Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh. 

Key areas, including Katpadi, Gudiyatham, Arcot, Vaniyambadi, Tirupattur, Arani, Vandavasi, Chengam and Tiruvannamalai, have State-run Karpagam cracker stores, besides private cracker shops. In all, there are around 500 cracker shops in these districts. Tiruvannamalai has the highest number of 175 shops. The administration has licensed these shops to sell crackers for a month.

Apart from the regular shops, the Superintendents of Police in these districts have set up low-cost cracker shops at the district headquarters for the benefit of police personnel and members of the public.

Two ranges of crackers are available in these districts, especially at government stores. They are fancy crackers and gift-box crackers. Fancy crackers are less noisy crackers and favourites among children. These crackers can be hand-picked by consumers and the price starts from ₹150. Gift-boxes contain 20 items, including sparklers, chakkars, atom bombs and ‘walas’, with the price tag starting from ₹705.