Chennai, October 31 (IANS). The Tamil Nadu Fireworks Manufacturers Association has reported that firecracker factories in Sivakasi, located in the state’s Virudhunagar district, have sold firecrackers worth Rs 6,000 crore across the country for Diwali.
Association officials said the hundred-year-old fireworks industry in Sivakasi has faced a significant decline in production this year. This reduction is mainly due to the Supreme Court reiterating the ban on barium nitrate, a key ingredient in the manufacturing of firecrackers, and additional restrictions on interconnected crackers – sets of separate firecrackers connected by a fuse, allowing one firecracker to burn. But they burn sequentially.
Business owners in Sivakasi told IANS that production has dropped by at least 30 per cent due to the ban on interconnected firecrackers. According to firework manufacturers, more than 300 factories in Sivakasi and nearby villages make interconnected firecrackers.
A.P. of Kalishwari Fireworks Selvarajan said: “Sonic crackers account for 40 per cent of the total production in Sivakasi. Of those sonic products, about 20 per cent were interconnected crackers.” He said that many firecracker manufacturers have kept their factories closed for months, due to which workers have gone to other factories.
Additionally, heavy rains in parts of Sivakasi further affected production, leaving production at about 75 percent of normal.
Nearly four lakh workers from 1,150 firecracker factories in Sivakasi were involved in making firecrackers worth Rs 6,000 crore this year.
Sivakasi is considered the center of India’s firecracker industry, producing about 70 percent of the country’s firecrackers.
However, it is also worth noting that several accidents have occurred during the construction process, causing loss of life and property. There were 17 accidents in Sivakasi in 2024 alone, resulting in 54 deaths.
–IANS
AKJ/