It seems that the recent cracker ban has had a devastating impact on firework units in Sivakasi. Situated around 550 km from Chennai, Sivakasi is the biggest hub of crackers production in India- producing nearly 95 per cent of the country’s crackers. The fireworks industry in Sivakasi employs around 8,00,00 to 10,00,000 people, directly or indirectly with a mind boggling turnover of about Rs. 60 billion.
However, the recent cracker ban which was, rejoiced with brimming enthusiasm by the pseudo liberals and pseudo secular factions of the society, has left the firework industry in Sivakasi in tatters. Around 1,400 fireworks units in Sivakasi have decided to shut down indefinitely. It is being demanded that the cracker ban imposed in October that restricts the time for bursting crackers be lifted.
Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Units Owners’ Association, an association of the cracker manufacturers, has claimed that the sales volume of firecrackers has come down by 60 per cent ever since the time restrictions and other restrictions on crackers were imposed. E Mariappan, Secretary of the Association stated that the decision to shut shops was taken in a meeting of the association. He said that the industry, which mostly consists of medium and small enterprises (MSEs) or the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) had been severely affected by the time restrictions and ban on use of certain type of chemicals in manufacturing crackers.
The industry does not seem enthused by the prospects of low-emission crackers either. The industry feels that the suggestions given by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), on the advice of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change are not feasible. Mariappan said, “the solution has to come from the industry and CSIR can be part of the research. Here, the CSIR was asking for royalty to use its invention, which is not viable for the fireworks industry.” He felt that even with intensive research, it will take around four years to come up with low-emission or zero-emission crackers.
In 2017 and 2018, the industry is said to have lost around 50 per cent of its business after the Supreme Court banned sale of fire crackers in the National Capital Region (NCR). One can therefore make out that the firecrackers industry in Sivakasi is in a dilapidated condition. Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Units Owners’ Association has already said that it is considering filing a review petition in the apex court against the present directive on time restrictions and ban on use of certain chemicals in manufacturing crackers.
It has been reported that the indefinite strike by the fireworks units in Sivakasi would affect the livelihood of around 8,00,000 workers employed directly and indirectly in the units in and around Sivakasi. The ban is likely to culminate in NPAs valued at 1600 crores. The future of the families who stand in danger of losing their jobs and livelihood seems to be in doldrums. While the self acclaimed environmental activists and the entire pseudo liberal lobby pushed strongly for a cracker ban and then rejoiced when it came into picture, they seem to have never taken into account that lakhs of workers would be affected by restrictions on manufacture of firecrackers. No one is disputing the fact that environment protection should be a topmost priority but depriving lakhs of workers of their jobs and livelihood is no way to go about it. These activists should have at least waited till intensive research into production of low-emission crackers became industrially feasible. A middle path for environment protection as well as safeguarding the jobs of these workers was needed. However, overzealousness on part of certain self acclaimed activists has resulted in this undesirable and critical situation.
