Firecracker Traders Association Federation demands five-day holiday ahead of Diwali

Firecracker Traders Association Federation (FTAF) on Sunday demanded a five-day-long holiday ahead of Diwali festival.

The demand comes at a time when the firecracker industry is struggling with financial strains as the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to approve the chemical composition of green crackers to pave the way for their manufacture to fight pollution.

They say that if this industry has to be retrieved from the worst-hit after the apex court's verdict, their demand has to be seriously considered.

According to Raja Chandrasekharan, the president of FTAF, the union has also demanded that the handmade firecracker industry must be exempted from 18 per cent GST slab.

Last year before Diwali, the apex court had on October 23 refused to impose a blanket ban on cracker bursting with certain conditions, which included the use of only lesser pollution-causing green crackers.The apex court had stated that the people will only be allowed to burst crackers between 8 pm and 10 pm on Diwali.