Cracker manufacturers look to govt for relief as lakhs of workers jobless

The future of around eight lakh workers now appears bleak. The Supreme Court’s order ahead of Deepavali came as a rude shock to cracker manufacturers as it ruled only low decibel ‘green crackers’ using less harmful chemicals must be produced and sold.

Moreover, the court also imposed a ban on use of ‘Barium nitrate’, a key raw material for manufacturing crackers, which caters to about 60 per cent of the total production of conventional items. The industry suffered yet another blow as bursting ‘lar crackers’ – (sara vedi), which constitutes 20 per cent in the total production, was restricted. As no alternative currently was currently available to produce crackers, the manufacturers have no other option but to close down the units, K Mariappan, General Secretary, Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association (TANFAMA), told DTNEXT on Wednesday. “There’s nothing called green cracker as nobody, including legal body, government, licensing authority or manufacturers know about such a product,” he added. With cracker production serving as an integral part of the manufacturing sector in Virudhunagar district, 96 other trades including printing, packaging and pulverizing relied much on this industry. Their livelihoods would also be hit. “However, manufacturers have lost hopes of getting a breather during the next hearing in December,” he said.

Taking into account the precarious situation of the industry, both State and Centre should argue before the court to ease restrictions in the larger interest of workers relying on a total of 1,070 manufacturing units in the district.

According to P.N. Deva, District Coordinator, Virudhunagar District Cracker and Match Workers Union, the State government in the interest of 8 lakh workers should enact a special rule and convey it to central government to exempt restrictions on making crackers and extend duration for bursting as well, he said.