The traditional way of making lime (sunnambu) by heating limestone in small earthen furnaces has become a rare phenomenon in the city. The few remaining people engaged in the profession at Jeeva Nagar near P N Pudur on the Maruthamalai Road are in fear of getting evacuated from the land where their furnaces stand.
There are three 20-year-old furnaces run by three different groups, each consisting three members.
While lime is commercially produced by heating sea shells to extreme temperatures, these groups make lime out of a special type of stone found in the outer parts of the city. Known as odakkallu in the region, the stone is crushed into small pieces and heated in the earthen furnaces.
“The stone is usually found in barren land in the villages where farmers are not able to produce any crops. They dig the land and sell the stone to us for making lime. We get large volume of stones from places like Neelambur,” said Abdul Shukoor, who works with one of the furnaces.
Two units (one load) of the stone cost Rs 3,000.
“After crushing the stone into small pieces, we put it into the furnace between layers of coconut husk and charcoal. Once the filling is completed, the furnace is covered and coconut husk put as base layer is lit from the bottom. The furnace burns over night and lime is made by next morning,” said K Rabiya who has been engaged in the work for nearly 10 years. According to Rabiya, lime produced in the traditional way has medicinal properties.
Nearly 30 families live on the land where the furnaces are situated, for which they do not have patta. Local administrators and politicians who visited the place assured them that an alternative place would be found to relocate the families and lime makers. However, no further action was taken.