MADURAI
Swadeshi Jagran Manch State convenor H. Adiseshan on Saturday appealed to the State governments, including Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal and others, to lift the ban imposed on the fireworks.
Speaking to reporters, he said that the directive by these governments may lead to thousands of workers, who had toiled all through the year, becoming jobless. The livelihood of the workers was already under threat due to various factors. The covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown too had led to losses in the sector.
With just less than a week for Deepavali, the governments should allow the people to burst crackers and bail out the workers in the sector. The branded fireworks had adhered to the SC guidelines and there was no need for any apprehension. Only the Chinese crackers had high levels of Potassium Nitrate, he claimed and urged the governments to ensure that smuggling of those fireworks illegally into the country was stopped.
In 2018, he said that the Supreme Court had directed fireworks units to ensure that the crackers were NEERI certified ones and did not pollute the environment.
At a time, when there was a plenty of misconceptions about the fireworks, the ban on the crackers would only add more pain to the thousands of workers. He also said that the Swadeshi Jagran Manch had taken it up with the Centre and the respective State CMs to reconsider their decision quickly.
