“I couldn’t find (firecrackers) anywhere else in Delhi. So I had to come here,” said Aditya Verma, 23, who had filled a bag with about $160 worth of fireworks on his motorcycle.

Jain, who opened his business in 2014, also lamented the government’s crackdown on crackers.

“When the new government was formed, weren’t there people setting off fireworks? “It didn’t cause any pollution back then,” he said. “People only use them for a few hours on Diwali.”

“Everyone is worried about pollution,” Jain added.

Gufran Beig, a meteorologist and professor at the Indian Institute of Science’s National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bengaluru, southern India, doesn’t believe the ban on particularly polluting fireworks is a bad thing, at least not for Delhi.

“Delhi is difficult because it suffers from a diverse source of emissions,” Beig said.

“The climatology is such that Delhi is already in trouble due to local sources like vehicles. The hostile weather around Diwali adds to the misery,” he added.

But it’s not just pollution that worries officials.

Almost every Diwali there are reports of explosions in fireworks shops or at events. On Monday, more than 150 people were injured in a massive explosion at a festival in a temple in southern India, news agency PTI reported. Last year, eight people died at a fireworks factory, and in 2018, a fire at another factory killed 17 workers, The Associated Press reported.

In Farukh Nagar, Mohammed Naim acknowledged the danger of fires and accidents while lamenting the loss of craftsmanship due to the ban.

“There has been economic progress, but the Atishbaz have fallen behind,” said Naim, 50, referring to his community’s nickname.

Like Hamid, Naim’s family had made and sold fireworks for generations. But since his Although his manufacturing license was revoked a decade ago, he struggled to find work, especially as a laborer, he said.

“We get pushed around in life,” Naim said.

“At my peak, I fed 35 families,” he added. “Now other families feed me.”