Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) president K.S. Alagiri has written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to reconsider the blanket ban on sale of all fireworks during Deepavali and allow ‘green crackers’ from Sivakasi to be sold there.
‘Ill-informed ban’
Mr. Alagiri said the Sivakasi fireworks industry not only employs the poor and the marginalised people but also is instrumental in creating a supply chain that involves small traders, transporters and wholesalers across India, whose livelihood would be grossly affected by the “ill-informed ban”.
He said these families had toiled the entire year to prepare for the single season sale of their products and would be pushed to a dire situation due to the ban.
He said the Supreme Court driven green innovation in the fireworks industry had led to the creation of a whole new range of fireworks in which the major pollutant sulphur dioxide had been avoided and the emission of all other gases were also within the limits prescribed.
“Considering these facts, I appeal to you to relax the blanket ban on all fireworks and allow the sale of scientifically ratified [by CSIR-NEERI and CPCB], eco-friendly ‘Green Fireworks’ of Sivakasi,” he said.
