Diwali orders for Sivakasi firecracker units not enough to lift spirits

Prohibition on use of chemical adds to pain of ban on firecrackers; industry appeals to Supreme Court for relief

Tamil Nadu’s Sivakasi, which makes most of the fireworks for India, has had a 30 per cent increase in orders after losing two years to the pandemic but the city’s business isn’t out of the woods yet.

Manufacturers want the government to lift a ban on the use of Barium nitrate and allow firecrackers during Diwali. They said the ban on Barium nitrate, an oxidising agent used in pyrotechnics, had affected the making of firecrackers like phuljhari (sparkler), the rolling chakri (ground spinner) and anar (flowerpot). “Without Barium, the quality of these products are not the same. In addition, this also led to the expansion of illegal markets this year. However, compared to the last financial year, we have seen a rise of 30 per cent in our sales this year,” said P Ganesan, director of Sony Fireworks and president of Tamil Nadu Fireworks Amorces Manufacturers’ Association (Tanfama).  

Ganesan expressed hope that the Supreme Court and the government would take a call on barium after the Diwali season. About 60 per cent of the firecracker industry's products are made using Barium nitrate. The Supreme Court reconfirmed the ban on the chemical in 2021, prompting the industry to approach it for relief.

There are around 1,070 manufacturing units in and around Sivakasi, forming an industry worth Rs 6,000 crore, according to Tanfama. Based on the association’s estimates, at least eight lakh people are directly and indirectly involved with the fireworks and its allied industries like printing and packing in Sivakasi. Industry players said the total business volume is down compared to the level before Covid-19, due to the Supreme Court ban on barium.

“If someone is doing the business ethically with only green crackers, no barium, and no joined crackers, post the Supreme Court order, there is a gross of 30-60 per cent reduction in the business. However, illegal manufacturing in the region has increased and there is no arrangement in the system to monitor it,” said Murali Asaithambi of the Sivakasi Fireworks Manufacturers Association (SFMA).

The industry is also hurting from the price rise of raw materials: potassium and strontium nitrate are up two-fold and other items by around 50 per cent. “This year, the market has shifted to the unorganised sector, as they are not complying to the green guidelines, with no accountability attached to it. Whether it is the explosives department, the police or other arms of the government are not checking this growing illegal sector,” Asaithambi said.

For the last three years, the industry in the region has been making only green crackers, based on norms set by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), which is expected to cut air pollution by 30 per cent.