VIRUDHUNAGAR: The famed muckraking journalist/author Upton Sinclair once said “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it”.
The labourers manning the hundreds of cracker manufacturing units did not understand that their work was detrimental to the environment. Neither did they understand the clamour for a transition to green crackers nor were they abreast of the legal battle playing out in the apex court that would one day leave them jobless. What they did understand was that their sitting on a tinderbox, braving death every moment to light up people’s festivities, kept the kitchen fires burning.
Disorder after order
When the apex court in 2018 imposed restrictions on the use of crackers, the repercussions were acutely felt by the lakhs of workers, whose hand-to-mouth existence further deteriorated. With debts, bills piling up and several mouths to feed, they had to seek out other avenues. Some found low-wage jobs in the construction, agriculture and allied sectors, while some became itinerant labourers. The few that stayed back were dependent on the erratic work the slim number of fireworks units had to offer.
Bleak future
What a cross-section of labourers had to tell TNIE was a tale loss, unwanted migration and pessimism surrounding a future that looks bleak at best. Sumathi, now in Erode, says that in one fell swoop not only did they lose their sole source of income, but also were left with no prospect. Her husband and others, who worked with her in a cracker unit, are rummaging through slim offerings in other sectors to eke out a living. “Many have gone to Tirupur and Kerala in search of jobs. A lucky few were absorbed by the textile sector while a sizeable chunk is jobless,” she says.
Regular paymaster
Of all the ecological and environmental ills the entire industry has been accused of, there is little doubt that it was a consistent paymaster, if not the best. Sumathi says the unit her husband and she worked at paid them `400 each a day. The job was tough and the timings irregular, but it helped them survive. “We could bank on work 365 days a year. Now, we do not have that luxury. There are jobs in other sectors, but none is as regular and well-paying as the fireworks units,” says Sumathi, whose family is among the hordes of migrant workers, who set sail for Erode after the crisis hit Virudhunagar.
Case adjourned
The Supreme Court adjourned the case related to green crackers to October 15. On Tuesday, the registry had not listed the case, which was to be heard by a Bench comprising Justice S A Bobde, Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar and Indira Banerjee.