DMK seeks special Act for cracker industry

Earlier in the day, DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu brought a Calling Attention Motion in the Assembly on the cracker issue and demanded proactive action from the government to save the industry. Speaking on the motion, Thennarasu said, “More than 8 lakh people are involved in the cracker business and if the cracker units are shutdown people will lose their livelihood.” He also said that there is no such concept called green crackers and under the circumstances, forcing the cracker manufacturers to go for manufacturing green crackers is not acceptable. 

Rural Industries Minister P Benjamin, while replying to Thennarasu, said that in the cracker ban case the state government appointed senior advocates in Supreme Court and only because of the government’s steps we could get two hours exception from restrictions on bursting crackers during Deepavali.Recalling the review petition filed by the state in the Supreme Court, the Minister said that the state is taking all legal steps to protect the cracker units and the labourers. He further said that the state government will also continuously stress upon the Center to exempt cracker industries from section 3 of Environment (Protection) Act.