THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: This might come as a disappointing news to the residents of Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple neighbourhood. Despite living near the busiest market place in the capital city, the residents in the area will be forced to walk at least four km if they wanted to buy crackers to celebrate Deepavali this year as the city administration has banned the sale of crackers within a four-km radius surrounding the temple. It was the sudden transformation of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple into the richest temple in the world following the unearthing of the treasure trove inside the temple that has brought this trouble for the residents. The city administration adopted this stance as the worship centre was declared a high security zone by the State Government. ‘’We have decided not to issue temporary licence to vendors in the area to sell crackers this year. The police are also maintaining strict vigil to ensure that nobody acted against the decision,’’ said Additional District Magistrate Mohammed Mustafa. In fact, not just the sale of crackers, but business of all kinds has been banned in the temple neighbourhood after it was declared a high security zone. That was why the State Government had evicted all vendors, even those who were doing business there for years, from the area a few weeks ago, the Magistrate said. The local police at Fort station is also conducting frequent raids in the area to ensure that no vendor in the area resorted to illegal sale of crackers. The raids are a part of the special drive launched by the city police to check the illegal sale of crackers and thereby avert any possible dangers. Having said so, this Deepavali is not going to be a completely disappointing one. ‘’We have not restricted the people from celebrating the festival by bursting crackers,’’ says City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham. The authorities did not want to invite trouble by imposing a ban on the right of the people to celebrate the festival, he added.
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