TN cracker units close for indefinite period

More than 1,000 firecracker manufacturing units here, most of them cottage units, went on an indefinite closure from Monday demanding lifting of the time restrictions imposed by the Supreme Court for bursting crackers and the ban on use of certain chemicals.

A body of the manufacturers claimed there was a 60 per cent decrease in sale of firecrackers in the wake of the apex court order, badly affecting the industry, which has an annual turnover of around Rs 6,000 crore.

Sivakasi is the country’s firecrackers hub and around eight lakh people are directly dependent on about 1,070manufacturing units, includingthe big factories, for their livelihood.

The decision to resort to the indefinite closure was taken at a meeting of the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Units Owners’ Association, its secretary E Mariappan told media representatives here.

He said the industry has been “severely affected” by the apex court order restrictingthe time for bursting crackers on Deepavali to two hours,the ban on use of certain chemicals and allowing only green crackers.

Pressing for lifting of all the restrictions, Mariappan claimed that besides the eight lakh people in and around Sivakasi, one crore people were directly or indirectly dependent on the firecrackers industry throughout the country and they would also be affected.

Mariappan said there was no such thing as “green crackers” and claimed that domestic crackers were much better compared to those in foreign countries.

The Supreme Court’s order banning the use of important raw materials like barium hydrite in the manufacture of crackers would also affect the industry.

The ban on chain crackers would make a large number of people jobless and indirectly destroy the cracker units, Mariappan said and added that the Supreme Court should respect the sentiment of the people while deciding on important issues related to religion such as bursting crackers during Deepavali.

Meanwhile, the association representatives met Minister KT Rajendra Balaji, who represents Sivakasi in the Assembly, and held talks with him on the issue. The association had earlier said it would file a reivew petition in the Supreme Court against its order on firecrackers.