Match manufacturers welcome TN govt’s decision to ban cigar lighters
Due to the availability of lighters, consumers did not opt for matchstick boxes.
Women engaged in making match sticks at a factory in Kovilpatti
MADURAI: Several match manufacturers have welcomed the state government’s initiative to impose a ban on the use of cigar lighters.
State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu, while addressing the Assembly session, said efforts would be made to impose a ban on the sale of cigar lighters in Tamil Nadu.
M Paramasivam, president, National Small Match Manufacturers Association, Kovilpatti, Thoothukudi district, on Monday said earlier that the manufacturers requested Chief Minister MK Stalin, seeking the intervention of the government to strictly impose a ban on the sale of cigar lighters to protect the traditional match manufacturing industry. Production was badly affected since the sales were not encouraging. Due to the availability of lighters, consumers did not opt for matchstick boxes.
Cigar lighters are available in shops at prices ranging from a minimum of Rs 5 to a maximum of Rs 10. The prevalence of cigar lighters affected the production as it dropped by fifty per cent. One lighter could be used to light up 600 times, and it affected the sale of 20 matchstick boxes.
At times when production halved in match manufacturing factories, the mainstay of the local economy, in Kovilpatti and its surroundings, several manufacturers opted for three working days a week, and several factories were even shut completely, he told DT Next.
Alarmed by the high usage of cigar lighters, R Gopalsamy, secretary of the Association, Kovilpatti, said the sale across Tamil Nadu has been affected by almost 70 per cent and 30 per cent in India over the last few years.
Further, he said the match production in Kovilpatti largely caters to the export market, apart from the domestic market, which is only about 40 per cent. But, nowadays, its market value on the international market has also come down. If the ban on the sale of cigar lighters is implemented effectively in Tamil Nadu, the manufacturers would make all-out efforts and request other states to implement a similar ban, he said.
