Selling, storing and burning of firecrackers is prohibited in Delhi. This ban has been imposed by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee, as well as Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also tweeted about it. Recently, the Supreme Court had also shown strictness on the use of firecrackers. But is the government`s ban on crackers being followed in Delhi? In our investigation, we found that despite the ban, crackers are being sold secretly in Delhi.

These firecrackers also include polluting sparklers, pomegranates, sutli bombs and threaded firecrackers. NBT found in its investigation that these sellers selling crackers illegally are not giving firecrackers to everyone but only those people who have come to know and have full confidence in their knowledge. Sources reveal that these firecrackers are being sold by the shopkeepers very carefully and this business is mostly going on over the phone.

Only after the deal is done over the phone, the customer is called to pick up the crackers. Sources say that neither the shop talks in clear words nor any kind of bargaining is done for this purchase and sale, but the crackers are quietly given in a packed packet so that the people around do not suspect. Online payment is not taken for this, rather all the transactions are done in cash only.

Some small traders are also selling old firecrackers left with them, while big traders are giving firecrackers by booking orders in advance. How is the business of firecrackers happening in Delhi, for this read our exclusive report.

Customer: Brother will you get crackers?

Firecracker seller: No brother, this time crackers are banned in Delhi.

Customer: I have been sent by such. Need for kids.

Cracker seller (by checking name): Yes yes, your packet is ready, make payment and take it.

This is a conversation between a customer and a firecracker vendor who is secretly selling firecrackers. Yes, the government may have completely banned firecrackers in Delhi this year, but NBT has found out in its investigation that some shopkeepers in many areas of Delhi are illegally selling phuljhari, pomegranate, twine bomb, charkhi and ladi.

Like doing firecracker business. During our investigation, we found that Delhiites are making all kinds of jugaad from overcharging shopkeepers for firecrackers to bringing firecrackers from NCR. On the other hand, firecracker vendors are taking utmost care on their part while selling firecrackers so that they do not get caught in any legal clutches.

That`s why they are selling crackers only to those people who have come from a known acquaintance. Even after this, they do not forget to thoroughly investigate the customer, so that later there is no problem of any kind.

Of course, due to the ban, this time firecrackers are not being sold openly in Delhi-NCR like in previous years. This correspondent, in his investigation, found that the shopkeepers are dealing with the sale of firecrackers only with people who are their identity or have come through the person identified. Not only this, the customer has to make an advance note of the order for stealing firecrackers.

In this, the name and quantity of the firecrackers have to be written. After this, the shopkeeper gives a certain time of the next day to the customer, at that time the customer can go to the shop and take firecrackers. There already the customer`s packet is prepared.

Sources reveal that if the next day a customer wants to buy more firecrackers than the one prescribed, he does not get it. The shopkeeper says that we do not keep these firecrackers, but get them from behind at your (customer`s) request, so we will get only this much now.

Even if you buy all your goods through digital payment, but to buy crackers illegally, you will have to pay only cash. Sources reveal that there is no online transaction seen in the purchase and sale of firecrackers, due to which the firecrackers are not taking online payment, but they are taking cash only for the most expensive firecrackers.

That`s why they tell the price of firecrackers only at the time of advance booking, so that the customer can bring the same amount in cash. Even after all this, if you are thinking that by giving cash you will get firecrackers, then it is not so at all. Actually crackers are not in the shop where the customer is sent.

When the customer makes the payment, the shopkeeper, asking for the customer`s vehicle, instructs his people over the phone that the firecrackers should be put directly in the vehicle. If the customer does not have a vehicle, the firecrackers are given to him as a gift pack or packed in a sack, so that no one is suspicious around.

Experts believe that due to more strictness regarding firecrackers in Delhi, some people are also bringing firecrackers from NCR. These include cities like UP Noida, Meerut and Ghaziabad to Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana.

About this, we asked Ashok Kumar, a firecracker seller from Gurgaon, `Are people coming to him from Delhi also to get firecrackers? In response to this, he said, `Due to the complete ban on firecrackers in Delhi, so far this time the number of people coming to buy firecrackers is not as high as in previous years. But it is true that those people who are not getting firecrackers in Delhi are also getting firecrackers in advance from the cities adjacent to Delhi.

In view of the ban on firecrackers, there are many options available in the market which are not crackers but do sound like firecrackers. By buying them you can enjoy the firecrackers. First of all there is a toy gun for small children of Diwali. It is being sold in the market for Rs 60.

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