About 1,400 fireworks units and the allied sectors throughout the country will begin indefinite closure from December 26 demanding early disposal of a case pertaining to nationwide ban on crackers to prevent air pollution.
The All India Federation of Fireworks Associations (AIFFA) on Friday decided to close down the units as “uncertainties” loomed large over the sale and use of fire crackers with the case pending before the Supreme Court.
“The entire industry thrives on the advance money paid by dealers and distributors that make up for 90% of working capital of the industry. With fresh cases filed in Supreme Court seeking nationwide ban on manufacture, sale and use of fire crackers, the dealers are not ready to pay advance. Besides, the manufacturers fear that any ban on crackers during Deepavali will render all their efforts and investment waste,” AIFFA vice-president K. Mariappan said.
The Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) dealers were seriously affected last year and many went bankrupt because of the ban issued by the court, he said. “All that we want is early disposal of the case by Supreme Court, immaterial of the outcome. Till then, the factories will be closed down because of the impossibilities and uncertainties,” he said.
Even in the event of the manufacturers managing to find their own resources and subsequently the court banned manufacture, sale and use of fire crackers at a later stage, all manufacturers would go bankrupt, said secretary of The Indian Fireworks Manufacturers' Association, N. Venkatesan. “Our industry cannot work under the grip of uncertainty,” he said.
Cascading effect
Besides the 840 licensed units in Sivakasi and its surroundings in Tamil Nadu, at least 600 units were functioning in other States, Mr. Mariappan said.
The closure of units by manufacturers would be along with other allied industries such as transport, dealers, distributors, magazine holders, sales agents, raw material suppliers, printing units and cutting units. “At least eight lakh employees in Sivakasi and its surroundings and several lakhs across the nation would be rendered jobless,” Mr. Mariappan said.
“Use of fireworks is only during festivals and not on all days round the year. The ban on use of crackers during Deepavali in the NCR and the recent incidents of unprecedented level of poor air quality has only proved that crackers were no cause for air pollution.
“When the Sri Lankan cricket players suffered a lot while playing Test cricket in New Delhi, there was no bursting of crackers. This is clear evidence of environment being polluted in the NCR because of other factors. In fact, no major step had been taken to prevent pollution caused by those sectors, while cracker industry has suffered enough,” Mr. Mariappan said.
The association wanted exemption of Rule 3 (3B) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, to safeguard the industry that had been facing threats from various quarters. “Why should anybody want to kill the Indian celebrations that are short-lived and not causing pollution as projected,” he said.
The industry wanted officials from Petroleum, Explosives and Safety Organisation (PESO), Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion and Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and Ministry of Commerce and Industry to redress the grave issues concerning the labour-intensive fireworks units to safeguard the livelihood of lakhs of families.
The entire sector would be shut down from December 26 indefinitely and all the units would start the process of exhausting the chemicals available with the units, Mr. Mariappan added.
