Cuttack, Nov. 1: The cyclone and subsequent floods have dampened the festive spirit here this Diwali.

Poor sale of firecrackers seem to reflect the mood of several residents who want to keep the celebrations simple and low-key to express solidarity with the state’s cyclone and flood victims.

“We have decided to celebrate Diwali without much fanfare. We will not burst crackers to express solidarity with the flood-hit people,” said Suraj Verma, a resident of Choudhury Bazaar.

The rise in the price of firecrackers has also attributed to a drop in its sales. Traders argue that prices have soared because of an increase in transportation cost following several hikes in diesel price this year.

“We are forced to buy less crackers as there has been a rise of 10 to 15 per cent in its price,” said Sweta Maheswari, a consumer.

So far, temporary licences have been issued for 200 shops against 349 applications the police had received. However, the police granted more than 355 temporary licences to various traders last year.

“Sales have dropped mainly because people are buying much less crackers than they used to do earlier. We will sustain loss of about 20 per cent as we had invested money in purchase of crackers with a hope of good sales this year,” said Pavitra Sethi, a trader.