VISAKHAPATNAM: Inflation has hit middle-class families in and around Visakhapatnam city forcing them to cut their Deepavali budget by about one-third.Forget about gold ornaments, garments and wide variety of sweets, even firecrackers have become dearer this year by 30 to 35 per cent. According to an estimate, a middle-income family spends `2,500 to `3,500 on shopping during this festival season. With the soaring prices of essential commodities and crackers, many lower and middle income groups are finding it hard to meet the demand of their children for firecrackers and other things like garments. Sellers of firecrackers lament that buyers are coming to their shops only in trickles.Daunted by the high prices of firecrackers, some enterprising people are buying raw material to make the firecrackers themselves at home. M Suryanarayana, a dealer, says they have ordered innovative products from makers in Tamil Nadu but customers seem little interested because of the prohibitive costs.L Ranjit Kumar, an employee of a private company, says the soaring prices is the dampener this year.“That is true, but we have to celebrate the festival somehow without fail.We therefore plan to cut down the budget,’’ says P Deepti, a housewife. For several years Vizagites, the Marwadis and other north Indians in particulars, have been celebrating Diwali in a grand manner at RK Beach and in other parts of the city. With shopping malls, gold shops and firecracker shops in the city reporting thin crowds and dull sales this year, the scale of celebrations this time is anybody’s guess.
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