Fire crackers manufacturing MSME units in Sivakasi to get a sigh of relief; SC directs Centre to approve formula for green crackers by May 15

New Delhi, Apr 12 (KNN) The Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) units in Sivakasi involved in manufacturing of fire crackers to get a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court has recently directed the Centre to approve chemical composition of green crackers by May 15.

The top court directed the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO), a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries to approve the green cracker formulation and submit its report to the Centre to grant approval by May 15.

It noted that the manufacturing of green crackers in the country must begin as soon as possible.

On October 23, the apex court had banned the manufacturing of polluting firecrackers and ruled that only green crackers with reduced emission will be allowed to control pollution.

Earlier, speaking to KNN India, Federation of Tamil Nadu Firework Traders General Secretary N. Elangovan had said “There is no definition of Green Crackers in rule books of the government. It is an imaginary word to manufacture reduced emission fireworks.”

So far, ‘Green Crackers’ are not approved by Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) team, he had added.

Giving a set deadline of May 15 for the Centre to finalize the chemical composition for green crackers, the move would give the closed MSME units which had shut shop following the ban on polluting crackers, leaving lakhs of people unemployed to manufacture green crackers whose definition was not clear earlier. (KNN/YV)