Another Gloomy Year For The Cracker Makers Of Tamil Nadu

During Diwali, Virudhunagar became the busiest place for manufacturing crackers. According to sources, mostly crackers are manufactured in this specific region, but due to several problems faced by the manufacturer every year, including the pandemic and growing air pollution, which emphasized to the banning of the crackers.

However, in December 2020, when communities were already ailing from the Covid-induced limitations on organizing celebrations, a complete ban on fireworks in certain areas blaming air pollution dealt them a death blow. T Kannan, general secretary of the Indian Fireworks Manufacturers Association (TIFMA), claims that whereas cracker output and sales were down about 25% in 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 they are down over 40% this year.

Meanwhile, companies had been manufacturing green crackers with CSIR-(CSIR NEERI's National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) approved formulation, which decreases emissions by 20-30% compared to ordinary crackers, following a 2018 Supreme Court judgement putting rigorous limitations on cracker manufacture. The change was difficult, but things were going well until 2019, when the pandemic hit, effectively devastating the sector.

Despite the fact that the limitations were abolished this year, numerous employees have been unable to find job as a result of the restrictions in some states.

N Elangovan, general secretary of the Federation of Tamil Nadu Fireworks Traders, said traders are wary of engaging in the sector because they would lose a lot of money if they couldn't sell the crackers they bought because of the banning and Covid restrictions.