: Sivakasi

manufacturers’ worst fears are coming true. A day after the Supreme Court banned the use of fireworks containing barium and laris, owners of industries were flooded with calls from

and wholesalers who had taken

from them asking if the restrictions would affect their sales this year.

“As soon as we explained the facts, some wanted to send back the consignments. Others are asking us to stop stocks that are on the way to their warehouses and outlets in trucks and take them back as they may not be able to sell them,” said Ganesan Panjurajan, director, Vinayaka Sony Fireworks Group, a major manufacturer in Sivakasi.

This was the plight of all 1,070 fireworks manufacturers in the town that accounts for 92% of the fireworks produced in the country.

Fireworks units stare at a crisis

Ganesan Panjurajan, director, Vinayaka Sony Fireworks Group, said the produce from his company was on its way in 27 trucks to wholesalers and dealers across the country. Each truck was carrying fireworks valued at Rs12 lakh to Rs30 lakh; around Rs6 crore worth of fireworks were on the road.Throughoutthe year,100to150truckscarry fireworksfrom thetown toits markets acrossIndia every day. They are stocked by wholesalers and dealers for the Deepavali sale and for other festivals and celebrations. Almost all factories supply fireworks on credit and get paid after the stocks are sold.

Industry sources said 98% of the stocks has been despatched for Deepavali.

Ganesan said 75% of the production in their 14 factories is based on credit. “Usually buyers send us the credit after Deepavali. But this time we fear that the heavy stock of unsold fireworks would be sent back to us from the day after Deepavali,” he said. Production is done with loans from banks and the whole cycle would get disturbed from this year, he said.

Industries expressed concern that this would burden them further and leave them in a big crisis as thedealers andwholesalerscould makeuseof theopportunity to send back their unsold stocks. It would makeitconvenientfor them tosaythatthey could not sell it due to the

.

Since almost none of the already manufactured fireworks comes under the green crackers category – which is yet to get a clear definition – industries said the fireworks in the market should either be destroyed by end users or after it is taken back by the manufacturer. They said the latter would result in heavy pollution in the Sivakasi area. Instead, the fireworks should be allowed to be destroyed by consumers who have already bought them.