In a significant development aimed at preventing the sale of Chinese crackers in the city, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has asked the Delhi Police to ensure that no sale of Chinese crackers in the national Capital on the day of Diwali. The directorate’s directive followed the seizure of about 100 cartons of Chinese crackers from West Delhi’s Janakpuri area. Earlier, the Delhi Police had seized a container from Tugalaqabad and Ghazipur Depot, containing large quantity of Chinese crackers.
The city had been witnessing huge sale of Chinese goods, including crackers, during the Diwali festival in the past several years. But they still are brought clandestinely in violation of the rules.
“The city administration’s move to put a stop on the sale of Chinese crackers has boosted the sale of local cracker manufacturers,” a South Delhi shopkeeper said. “The quality of our crackers is far superior to those manufactured in China,” he claimed.
As per the Delhi Police, it has also prosecuted 165 shopkeepers for selling goods in violation of the Packaged Commodity Rules, 2011. According to these rules, the manufacturer of any packaged goods is bound to specify all the relevant details about their product. “The first-time violators are fined Rs25,000. Second-time violators will be fined Rs50,000. And on commission of third offence, one can be fined anything between Rs50,000 and Rs100,000 and jailed for a period of up to one year,” a senior official said.
The Delhi Government also cracked a whip on about 300 shopkeepers who were found selling electrical goods in violation of the rules.
“Many of these shopkeepers were prosecuted for not specifying product details. A majority of these goods included decoration lights.”
Sources said that the majority of the violations were found in the Chinese electrical goods.
“In every five Chinese items, four had not put proper product details. As far as the Indian goods are concerned, the ratio of the violation was one in every five items.”