Hyderabad: Diwali like no other, COVID-19 dampens festivities among firecracker sellers

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], November 6 : With only a few days left for Diwali, the firecracker sellers in Hyderabad feel that the sales have completely come down as compared to that of previous years.
Speaking to ANI, Jagdeesh, a firecracker shop owner said, "The festivals this year are not being celebrated with the same enthusiasm as compared to the previous years. We were expecting that at least this Diwali would go great, but it seems like even this festival is going to disappoint all of us. Till now there has been no trace of customers, very few people are turning out to buy crackers this year."
The firecracker sellers are expecting that people would turn up to buy crackers soon.
AV Srinivas, a customer told ANI, "Due to COVID-19, this year we are unable to celebrate Diwali, like the way we used to celebrate in the previous years. People are not much excited."
"Every year, we celebrate Diwali with all the family members and relatives but this year, due to this pandemic situation, the celebrations will be limited to ourselves," Srinivas added.
He further said that this year, Diwali should be celebrated while taking adequate precautions amid the pandemic.
Ashwini Kumar, a firecracker shop owner speaking to ANI said, "I have been selling crakers for the last 30 years. Every year, by the end of Diwali, we used to have a good business but this year the business has been very low and as a matter of fact, the business hasn't even started yet. By now, last year, the preparations for Diwali had already begun, but this year I haven't seen any preparations taking place, yet."
He also said that the pandemic has affected people financially and as they were about to recover from this, floods hit parts of the city creating further problems.
"So with all these problems, people are more focused on surviving rather than celebrating," he said.