Sivakasi MLA pitches for exemptions to cracker industry

“More than 8 lakh families are dependent on the cracker industry in and around Sivakasi and the industry has been suffering for the last seven years. To ensure the livelihood of the eight lakh families, the government should allot Rs 5,000 crore for the sector and should take steps to exempt the industry from curbs similar to jallikattu,” said Ashokan, who also urged the state to come up with a long and short term mission to revive the sector.

Talking about the export potential of the cracker industry, Ashokan said exports had stopped completely from 1997 due to difficulty in obtaining no objection certificate from Colombo and Singapore. He appealed to the state government to facilitate the industry to obtain NOC to revive its lost business. “If NOC is obtained, the industry can export 2,000 containers of crackers which will help a total of 10 lakh families to earn livelihood,” said Ashokan. He further said that private hospitals in Sivakasi are able to save the lives of the workers, who sustained up to 52 per cent of burns in fire accidents, but the Sivakasi Government Hospital could not save workers who sustained 18 to 22 per cent burn injuries and so state government should establish special burns ward, skin bank, dialysis and CT scan facilities in Sivakasi GH.