GUWAHATI: Struggling to cope with the slide in business over the past few years, Assam’s firecracker hub, Barpeta stares at an uncertain future amid alleged government apathy and rising input costs.
Even as the festive season gets into peak mode, the orders for the local brand of handmade firecrackers are yet to come in, which going by history, is a departure.
“The orders generally start to come ahead of Durga Puja. But not a single order has come this year even as we are in the middle of the four-day festival and with just about 10 days left for Diwali,” Gunajit Pathak of Manoranjan Fireworks at Brindabanhati in Barpeta town, told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
Not just a hit in demand for the Barpeta brand, but input costs such as raw material and labour have gone up substantially.
Going by the trend, Pathak assumed that the chances of profit making looked bleak.
“Last year, business was below par. This time, it could be worse as the government has still not cared to hear our problems and see our plight. Then there is goods and services tax (GST) which is pushing up costs. So unless we have fair-price shops at our disposal for procuring raw material, we fear that this 134-year-old legacy might just be heading towards a dead end,” he said.
Restrictions in regard to sound and time for bursting crackers too have hit the trade hard prompting wholesale traders and retailers across the state to lift lesser quantities from the five major units of Assam’s “atasbaji” hub.
“Our firecrackers are hand made and hence we do not have parameters to gauge the decibel limit and keep it within the prescribed limit,” Pathak said.
As it is, the absence of a level-playing field has been its bane with Chinese-made lights and Sivakasi-made firecrackers taking the lion’s share in the market.
“Our quantity is far too low when compared to the Sivakasi firecrackers which are machine made and can be manufactured in quick time. Quality wise, our items are better and hence costlier. So we have a limitation in regard to pricing and packaging as well and people generally opt for the cheaper and attractive variety,” he said.
The fireworks hub in the lower Assam district (Barpeta) operates under the Barpeta Atasbaji Silpa Somobai Samiti with about 60 workers currently engaged in the five units.
The units procure the major ingredients through distributors who bring them from Kolkata.
“Our pleas for subsidy on raw materials such as sulphur, potassium nitrate, cast iron particles and charcoal have not been responded to by the industries department. The infrastructure created at the Atasbaji village has been there for some years now but without proper lighting and facilities for water supply, which is why we still manufacture the firecrackers at home. We are still awaiting an order from the department to start our unit from that space,” Pathak rued.
As of now, it’s a dicy situation for several families as livelihoods are at stake.
“Our unit supports about 15 families and if this recession prolongs, it would be a case of closing shop. Not just that, a century-old legacy is in danger as our children are not trained to run the trade, let alone coping with the challenges ” he said.
