Machines to come to the rescue of beleaguered fireworks units
S. Sundar
Biharis to fill manpower shortage caused by exodus of local people to Tirupur
—PHOTO: S. JAMES
Gone to greener pastures: Many Sivakasi units find it hard to fill the vacuum caused by migration of workers to the garment industry in Coimbatore district.
SIVAKASI: Soon Biharis might fill up the gap left by workers of fireworks industry who have migrated to the garment sector in Tirupur. The industry itself is poised for mechanisation to overcome shortage of manpower.
“Our company has made a proposal to manpower agencies to bring a few hundred Biharis here to tackle the labour problem,” said A.P. Selvarajan of Sri Kaliswari Fireworks. The climatic condition and food will be a challenge in bringing the workers. However, Mr. Selvarajan is hopeful as a good number of Biharis are already working in a few match and paper industries here for the last six months. The workers can be provided with accommodation and facility to cook food of their choice.
He hoped that basic training could be given to raw hands to make them fit into the fireworks industry. Employment of Biharis would also become popular in the industry because of cheaper labour.
No Tirupur model
However, providing free accommodation and subsidised food with the luxury of television sets for workers, as done by the garment industry would not be viable for all players in the industry, opined V. Kesavan, who has a few factories in Thayilpatti.
“Garment industries run round-the-clock with three shifts. But we can work only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All that we can do is provide free quarters for the workers’ family,” Mr. Kesavan said.
Kaliswari Fireworks is geared up to mechanise some of its operation to compensate the lack of workforce.
“We will have a mixing plant by November that would perform the work of 70 employees with just 10 persons operating it,” Mr. Selvarajan said. The Department of Explosives has given its approval for the plant to be supplied by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Packing unit
Besides, the company has been experimenting with a packing unit.
“This unit can pack the whole of one day production of crackers with just two persons operating it. We can spare the labour of 30 persons who do it. Mechanisation will definitely not lead to retrenchment. We will redeploy our workers to other areas.”
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