Revenue and Disaster Management Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran on Tuesday told the Assembly that inexperienced workers, increased production and poor handling of finished products are the causes for fire accidents in cracker factories.
Responding to a special calling attention motion in the Assembly on the accident in a firecracker unit in Ariyalur, he said once crackers were manufactured only in Sivakasai, but now almost all the districts have cracker manufacturing units. Of the 1,482 units, 1,085 are in Virudhunagar district.
“Experienced workers from Sivakasi are being employed in firecracker units in other districts to train others. When manufacturing is not done in a proper manner, it results in an accident,” he explained.
Mr. Ramachandran said there was a State-level committee headed by the Chief Secretary and district-level committees headed by Collectors were monitoring those units to ensure safety measures.
When the leaders of the Opposition demanded ₹10 lakh for those who have lost their lives in the accident, he reminded them that it was the DMK government that increased the amount to ₹3 lakh.
