40% drop in production; cracker ban hits Sivakasi traders

The upcoming Diwali didn’t bring any joy to crackers traders in the Sivakasi, the cracker manufacturing hub of India. once, Sivakasi was credited with having a business of around Rs 6,000 crore just a few years ago. But since the Supreme Court order on green crackers and ban on barium, things have changed.

The production has dropped 40 per cent and the cost of chemicals that act as replacements for barium has shot up the costs. Apart from this crackers with strontium nitrate as one of their chemicals are hygroscopic (absorb moisture) and in case of rainfall, they cannot make crackers for the next three days.

Moreover, strontium nitrate is not readily available in India, it has to be imported. The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute or NEERI, which came up with replacements for barium in crackers, acting on a Supreme Court directive to control pollution, has suggested the use of potassium nitrate and strontium nitrate instead. Besides, the formula to make green crackers was only given to some 1,000 companies that were ready to sign a non-disclosure agreement with NEERI.