Mysuru: With Deepavali festivities all set to begin from tomorrow, the stalls selling ‘green crackers’ have sprung up at various parts of the city.

Like every year, the vendors have erected stalls after procuring licences from the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) and No Objection Certificates (NoCs) from the Police, Fire and Emergency Services, CESC and Pollution Control Board.

This year, State Government has made it mandatory to sell only green crackers which are considered to be environment friendly. Authorities have issued permission for the vendors to sell fire-crackers for a period of six days from Oct. 28 to Nov. 2.

Following this, about 15 stalls have been erected in J.K. Grounds, 16 stalls on JLB Road, 3 on Lalitha Mahal Palace Road, one at Bhutale Pitch (Grounds) and other areas. This apart, stalls have also been erected in Hebbal Industrial Area, which houses cracker godowns.

Instructions have been given to erect stalls in an area measuring 10 ft x 10 ft, 3 metres in height with six metres gap between each shop.

The authorities have banned cooking, smoking and sleeping inside the shops apart from banning the sale of harmful crackers. Vendors have been warned of stringent action if found violating the rules. The bar codes on cracker boxes should confirm the legality of being green crackers failing which the licences will be cancelled on the spot.

The vendors have been instructed not to use plastic items or carry bags. It is also mandatory to arrange sufficient lighting at the stalls and have two drums with capacity to store 400 litres of water to be used in case of any emergencies along with  water pressure.

Students create awareness on fire-crackers

The students of Seshadripuram PU College created awareness about the ill-effects of bursting crackers on the environment by forming a human chain at Manchegowdana Koppal Circle in city recently.

The students, who took out a jatha, urged the residents not to light crackers on main roads but become nature-lovers. Congress leader Ravi and others joined them.