The recent
episode in Sivakasi, the city which makes 90 percent of the country’s
firecrackers, is nothing new. Many such incidents have taken place in this
tinder box in the past. Only the number of those dying keeps increasing. But
death, even in such large numbers is not news in this country, where people die
every day from all kinds of manmade reasons. The common factor in all these is always
callousness and negligence, underlined by poverty on one side and power on the
other. Be it money power, muscle power or position power. Those who die are
invariably the poorest of the poor; basically nameless and only a number.
After every
such incident, whatever the cause, compensations will be announced, enquiries
constituted and then forgotten. Why, because, another major disaster would have
hogged the headlines. After 38 people were killed in the recent series of
explosions, the almost hilarious statement by government agencies was that they
were kept in the dark about the cancellation of the factory's license by the
deputy controller of explosives, who happens to be a central government
official. The license was cancelled a day before the accident after an
inspection found the unit overstaffed and stocking excess explosives. Weird!
Sivakasi, which is the capital of India’s firecracker industry, with
about 8,000 factories has a turnover of Rs. 15 billion growing
at the rate of 10% per annum.
These fireworks factories give
direct employment, as well as, indirect, such as paper tube making, wire
cutting, box making in the country side. They also produce military weapons,
which are used for training in armed forces. Some airports are using Sivakasi
rockets to scare away birds. Beside fireworks,
it is also a major hub of printing presses and in-house studios, producing a
variety of posters and calendars.
Sivakasi
today produces 80% of India's total safety matches, 90% of India's total
fireworks, and 60% of India's total offset printing solutions. It is one of the
highest sales/excise/customs duty paying towns.
One would
imagine a city which has returned so much to the exchequer, would deserve at
least a single decent sized hospital, with a dedicated burns unit. In a place
which has seen so many such disasters, the state government would have given
the poor labourers’ working in this hazardous
industry at least this much.
When such
accidents take place in Sivakasi the severely burnt are driven in make shift
ambulances 75 kms to Madurai. Sivakasi is sitting on a volcano which
erupts every now and then. And yet the roads are so narrow and bad that fire
tenders cannot reach them.
Child labour
too has been a major problem, but sustained campaigns by human rights activists
have seen that practice come down drastically. However, with rising costs, the
employment of children is re-emerging in a different way, according to social
workers in the area. As per a press report, the practice of home-based firework
production has started. This is done through a network of contractors and
sub-contractors, which is not just creating fire hazards at homes, but also
pulling children back into the industry.
According to a 2005 survey by the
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan—Virudhunagar district, where Sivakasi is situated, has
the highest percentage (45%) of families with out-of-school children.
The violation of safety
norms—which has caused around 1,000 deaths in the last 10 years according to
some NGO estimates(the official figure is of course much, much lower)—continues
unchecked due to insufficient government regulation of the industry.
Firms say rising costs and
irregular labour availability has lead to home-based production, but only of
non-hazardous kinds. NGOs dispute these claims. Production
of fireworks in homes is not permitted, but those who do generally go
unpunished because it helps the locals make a living.
According to a recent report, the tehsildar
is the only officer in the entire state in charge of inspections for the
matches and fireworks industry, and operates with just one assistant.
There have been an alarmingly high number of accidents in
the fireworks industry despite tall claims made by the State government about
the implementation of the Factories Act, 1948.
The labourers employed in the cracker units are forced to
work under tremendous stress in order to meet production targets, especially
during festival time like Diwali. Piece-rate work adds to their miseries.
According to another press report, scarcity of labour has
led contractors bringing in untrained recruits despite the fact they have no
the technical knowledge of the job, particularly chemical mixing, filling,
fitting, drying, braiding, and packing. This has also resulted in fatal
accidents. Unhealthy competition among manufacturers has led to the
introduction of new varieties. This and the absence of proper training to
workers and safety mechanisms make a deadly combination. In almost all the
recent accidents, explosions occurred while handling chemicals.
Safety norms are blatantly violated. Instead of the permitted
four people working in a room with four doors, 10 people are made to work. Some
registered units do not have equipment such as copper plates to earth static
electricity, lightning arrestors, or even protective masks. Fire control
equipment is totally absent in most factories.
Also, buildings are not explosion resistant. Experts say the deaths are not just because of the
blasts, but also because of the buildings disintegrating.
Recently, the mushrooming of illegal cracker units in the
villages has made the workers even more vulnerable. According to reports nearly
100,000 people depend on the unlicensed sector whereas the licensed factories
employ around 130,000 persons. Poor wages offered by the contractors of the
licensed units was one of the reasons why labourers switched to the illegal
sector.
These illegal units were actually started by the licensed
companies, to outsource work. But the illegal sector got the support of
dealers, raw material suppliers, and truck operators because they got better
deals. The practice apparently still continues, in fact some licensees even
lease out their manufacturing sheds. Also,
entire families including children work out of residences. Accidents occur
every now and then, because cooking is done in the same room where combustibles
are stored.
Finally, we heard the owner of the factory where the
recent blast took place was arrested. As expected he turns out to be a member
of the AIADMK. Such, blatant violations cannot take place without political
patronage and an indifferent and corrupt administration. It does not matter
which government is in power, they are all the same. Workers must realise
individually they can be crushed but collectively they may have some voice. The
NGOs working in the area can only show them the way towards collective
bargaining or nothing will ever change. The media too takes notice only when
there’s a disaster. Why don’t they run a relentless campaign against the
pitiable condition of those workers? Or it is only a matter of time when
another lot of people will be roasted alive.
