Sivakasi firecracker industry in distress as pollution, COVID dent sales

The firecracker industry of Sivakasi, which was already facing turbulent times, is now struggling with a slump in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic, pollution concerns, and the subsequent cracker ban in several states.

Chennai (Tamil Nadu):The Firecracker industry in Tamil Nadu's Sivakasi is facing a double whammy this year -- the coronavirus pandemic, and the ban on crackers by several states.

Several states and Union Territories, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha, Sikkim, and Chandigarh, have decided to ban bursting of crackers on Diwali due to pollution concerns.

Sivakasi, situated in the southern part of Tamil Nadu, meets more than 90 per cent of the cracker demand in the country. More than 1,100 Small and Medium Industries, provide employment to over three lakh people directly and four lakh people indirectly in various segments including manufacturing, packaging, dealerships and retail sales.

Representatives from the Tamil Nadu Firecrackers and Amorces Manufacturers' Association (Tanfama) said that this year, production was cut down to 60 per cent due to the COVID lockdown and slump in demand.

Pertinently, the industry had already been facing trouble for the past few years due to imposition of 28 per cent GST on firecrackers, the illegal sale of Chinese crackers, and the cracker ban in Delhi and other northern states due to rising air pollution.

Further, the Supreme Court made the sale of eco-friendly green crackers mandatory in 2018, which again posed many challenges before the industries to transit from traditional manufacturing to 'green crackers' without the use of sulphur and other dangerous chemicals. A new chemical ingredient was developed with the help of CSIR-NEERI and was certified free of poisonous gases by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

"The industry body expects the sale of crackers this year to be down to Rs 2,500 crore from Rs 5,000- 6,000 crore four years ago," said Tanfama representative Aasai Thambi.

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"Due to Covid, lockdown cracker manufacturing got severely affected. Usually, bulks orders are placed three months before Diwali, both from outside the state and by the local retailers. But this year, we witnessed a huge drop in orders and crackers worth Rs 1,500 crore are unsold," Thambi added.

Meanwhile, labourers dependent on the firecracker industry remain worried with the slump in demand.

"We stayed jobless for more than five months and even after the industry restarted the production we only get a few days of work. Earlier we used to earn Rs 400 a day but now it has halved," said Muthu Raj, who works in a firework industry.

Speaking on the matter, Congress MP Manickam Tagore, who represents the Virudhunagar constituency under which the Sivakasi region falls, said, "MSME fireworks industry of Sivakasi supports the livelihood of over six lakh people. Any act of banning their primary product would destroy their lives."

"A study by IIT Kanpur found out that the major constituent or cause of air pollution is road dust and vehicular emissions. Stubble burning is the important reason for air pollution in northern states during the winter season, yet firecrackers are made easy scapegoats for misdoings of other environmental culprits," Tagore said in his letter to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar.

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