17th October 2016

- The Times of India

Gujarat community to boycott Chinese fireworks this Diwali

KOCHI: Extending support to the countrywide campaign to boycott Chinese fireworks, Gujarati community in Kochi too plays their part this Diwali.

The community members have decided to use only country-made fireworks replacing the Chinese ones.
Already a campaign regarding this has been going viral on WhatsApp groups among the community members.
"We will boycott Chinese fireworks and lights this Diwali in protest against Beijings support to Pakistan after the Uri attack. If we could bring down the sale of Chinese fireworks by 60% it is a big achievement," said Chethan Shah, secretary of Sreecochin Gujarati Mahajan.

"We can identify which firework product is from China and which one is from India. The local products might have name of areas where it was manu factured, while Chinese fireworks bear certain bar codes," he said.
Kochi is home to about 814 Guja rati families, ac counted for nearly 6,000 members.

The community said that they would return to traditional country-made products to celebrate the festival of lights.
Vijay M Shah, a Gujarati in Kochi, said, "We will use only earthern pots for illumination. Earlier, we used only the earthern pots which were later replaced by substandard illuminating bulbs from China. Sweets imported from China also rule the market.But we plan to buy only country-made ones."

Earlier, the petroleum and explosives safety organization (PESO) officials exhorted people to desist from using Chinese fireworks citing presence of banned potassium chloride, which adds colour and height to fireworks.

Meanwhile, Kerala Fireworks Licensees and Employees Association state president G Subodhan said, "The fireworks have not been imported for the last two years following the Union government ban".