Traders observe bandh, fast in support of fireworks industry

About 30 associations related to printing industry, matches industry, fireworks manufacturers, dealers, paper merchants, lorry owners, Anna Vegetable Market and Consolidated Vegetable Market in Sivakasi extended their support to the bandh on Wednesday. Nearly 1,000 people observed a day’s hunger strike in Thiruthangal, in response to a call given by the All India Federation of Fireworks Industry (AIFFI).

The AIFFI said implementation of the new, impractical safety rules would result in closure of all licensed cracker shops, and ultimately lead to closure of the fireworks industry in Sivakasi, which is producing nearly 70 percent of fireworks of the country. 

The Federation wanted the Centre to drop certain aspects of the draft safety norms, including the one prescribing 15-m safety distance for cracker shops from educational institutions, hospitals and diagnostic centres.  The Minister of Commerce and Industry should make it clear that the recommendations were made only by a panel appointed by the court.

The accidents in cracker shops occurred only because of failure in implementation of the existing safety norms by the authorities and not because of any lacunae in safety guidelines. “We will continue our protest till the proposed draft rules were dropped by the government,” it said. Over 840 licensed cracker units in and around Sivakasi had downed shutters since February 18 after PESO prepared a fresh set of safety guidelines for cracker shops following a major fire accident in a licensed cracker shop in Sivakasi that claimed nine  lives on October 2, last year.