It is going to be a long winter for salt workers

3,500 acres of salt pans were affected in Cyclone Gaja

Pawnbroking and money-lending has turned into a flourishing business in Vedaranyam post-Cyclone Gaja as most of the salt pans have become defunct.

The workers are surviving, thanks to subsidised rice provided by the government, but have been left with no option other than to pledge their valuables to make ends meet.

Over one lakh tonnes of salt kept in the open by hundreds of small-scale manufacturers were washed away by the cyclone. The stock would have fetched ₹1,000 per tonne.

The manufacturers, due to their inability to separate slush from brine pits, abandoned their salt pans. The slush dried along with dead fish and birds. The manufacturers also lost their oil engines and pump sets.

According to A. Vedaratnam, president, Vedaranyam Salt Manufacturers and Merchants Association, small-scale manufacturers have not been able to get financial assistance they had sought from the government to reactivate the salt pans through an expensive chemical process that would cost at least ₹1 lakh an acre. Pans spread over 3,500 acres, employing at least seven to eight thousand workers, have been affected by the cyclone.

Hence, salt production has now slipped to just one-tenth of the usual level in Vedaranyam. After the natural calamity, it has become for salt manufacturers to demarcate their pans. Even those who have been able to do so cannot proceed further as they have no idea where the slush should be dumped, according to small-scale manufacturers.

The washed away stock was the only source of revenue during winter. The salt pans remain defunct during the summer months, when production usually reaches its peak. And now, the recent spell of rainfall has precipitated the pitiable condition of the workers.

For the forthcoming winter, the workers are literally penniless, and find themselves forced to pawn jewels and other valuables. The condition of the manufacturers is no better. Attempts by manufacturers to sell the available stock in the market did not fructify as the mud content was high.

The visit of the then Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take stock of the damage has meant precious little to the workers.

Former BJP MLA of Vedaranyam S.K. Vedarathinam, who took up the cause of the salt workers with the Union Industries Ministry, says revival of the salt pans is tough but possible. “Salt production is indeed vital to infuse vibrancy into the local economy.”