The relentless ban on firecrackers year after year, just ahead of Diwali has left the firecracker manufacturers and sellers in a lurch. Bypassing the hassle, an NGO in Vadodara has revived a 400-year-old technique to make eco-friendly firecrackers using clay.
Inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Vocal for Local,’ an NGO named Pramukh Parivaar Foundation has helped in the revival of this art which was being kept alive by some craftsmen in Kumharwada.
Talking about Kothis (clay-based firecrackers), Nital Gandhi, the president of Pramukh Parivaar Foundation said, “These firecrackers are 100 per cent indigenous. Kothis are made out of clay. A potter made them using clay. Chakri is made out of paper and bamboo.”
“Our aim is to provide as much employment to the local artists. These are eco-friendly. They dissolve after being used. Also, they are safe for children. Anyone can use these firecrackers. Our theme is ‘Vocal for Local’,” Gandhi said further.
“We can make more than 1 lakh Kothis”
The revival of the art has certainly made this Diwali happy for the local craftsmen who had given up on the art a few decades ago. Crediting Pramukh Parivaar Foundation for reigniting interest in Kothis, Raman Prajapati, a craftsman said, “It is a 400-year-old way of making crackers. Older people used to make Kothis. 20 years back I stopped because it was not profitable.”
“But then Nital bhai arrived and I showed him samples of a few Kothis. Then I arranged 2 tractors worth of clay and made them. I got to earn during this Diwali. We can make 1 to 5 lakh Kothis,” Prajapati added.
“Is it a celebration or mourning”
Troubled by the crackdown on firecrackers in the garb of controlling air pollution, the firecracker traders lashed out at the government for imposing a ban.
Harjeet Singh Chabbra, General Secretary of Firecracker Association in Delhi’s Sadar Bazar, in an interview to a local news channel had said, “If Diwali will not be celebrated in India then do we expect it to be celebrated in Pakistan?”
Chabbra further said that he has never witnessed such conditions and bans in his 20 years of career. “Are we celebrating a festival or mourning someone’s death? We have to beg the Supreme Court to allow us to sell crackers on Diwali living in India,” had said the visibly upset trader.
Manufacturers in the firecracker town of Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, which produces over 90 per cent of firecrackers in the country, had predicted a loss of around Rs 500 crore this year due to the ban in these states.
Sivakasi-based T Kannan, Director of Sree Balaji Fireworks, in a statement to media had said, “The production this year is only 50 per cent of last year. Around Rs 3,000-crore worth of firecrackers were produced in 2020 and this year it would be around Rs 1,500 crore. After the ban, the impact would be around Rs 500 crore losses.”
