Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapadi K Palaniswami has requested the chief ministers of Odisha and Rajasthan, Naveen Patnaik and Ashok Gehlot respectively to lift the ban on the sale and bursting of crackers during the Deepavali season. He points out the ban due to the COVID situation would have a direct bearing on the livelihoods of lakhs of people in Tamil Nadu depending on the crackers for their survival and equal number of people depending on its sale outside the state.
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The Chief Minister has said, “Tamil Nadu state produces mainly green crackers and therefore the question of environmental pollution does not arise. There is no empirical or validated data to demonstrate that the bursting of crackers has an effect on COVID patients. I, therefore, request you to reconsider the decision to ban the sale and bursting of crackers in your state for this Deepavali season,” in his letter to his counterparts in Odisha and Rajasthan.
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CM pointed that the state uses aw materials that ensure reduced emission levels and low decibels. The industry provides direct employment to around 4 lakh people and indirect employment to 4 lakh people, he said. CM recalled that the Supreme Court judgment dated October 23, 2018, considering the direct and indirect employment involved in the manufacturing of crackers, as well as to safeguard the traditional/cultural way of celebrating the Deepavali festival, directed all the states “to encourage bursting of crackers in public places for a limited period of 2 hours on the day of Deepavali”. In line with SC directions, TN ordered the state people to burst green crackers one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening.
