Festival spirit missing

Although Diwali is just around the corner, the usual hustle and bustle and the festive spirit witnessed during the run-up to the festival is apparently missing. The traders and shopkeepers have huge stocks of gist items, but the footfall of the customers, as of now, is low. The ban on crackers, though a welcome step towards conservation of environment and saving the city from worst kind of pollution post-Diwali, has come as a dampener. Members of the trade associated with gift items say that the down trend in the economy after demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax regime is the main cause of subdued spirits. “People do not have spare cash to splurge on festival buying and it seems, the exchange of gifts during the festival would also be minimal,” said the owner of a departmental store.

Keep crackers out of sight 

While there have been a lot campaigning appealing people not to light firecrackers, a group of parents who were attending such campaign while seeing an advertisement on mobile, said though crackers are being banned and discouraged, every advertisement video or photograph depicts firecrackers. “There is a need to stop showing firecrackers even in ads and promotions of the festival to wean people away from them. Diwali should be synonymous with lights, diyas and candles,” a parent said.

Contributed By : Kuldip Bhatia and Gurvinder Singh