Govt to rope in FRDC to develop fireworks manufacture in state

Kolkata: Taking a major step to develop manufacturing of fireworks as a major industry in Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee government will rope in the Fireworks Research and Development Centre (FRDC) at Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu, to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to set up a cluster of fireworks factories at Baruipur in South 24-Parganas.

According to a senior official of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise and Textiles department, the decision has been taken to write to the FRDC to prepare the DPR as it is an expert organisation in ensuring quality and safety standards for the entire industry.

The DPR will be prepared to set up the cluster with common facility centre at Baruipur in South 24-Parganas. Later, the same model as per the DPR will be replicated to set up such clusters in other parts of the state.

It may be mentioned that Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu is known as the country's firecrackers manufacturing hub. In Bengal, too, there are many villages, mainly in South 24-Parganas, where manufacturing firecrackers is the source of livelihood for many.

Now, the state government has taken the major step in helping the families involved in manufacturing of firecrackers by creating infrastruc-

ture that will ensure a "better, safe and hazard-free" environment.

"It is the main reason behind roping in an expert organisation like FRDC to prepare the DPR," the official said.

It may be mentioned that a 50-acre land at Baruipur in South 24-Parganas has already been identified and all other processes are also in progress to set up the cluster.

Since it is a matter of setting up a cluster of fireworks manufacturing factories, the official said that it will be set up adhering to all norms.

Setting up of the same will ensure technological upgradation, which will ensure improvement in the quality of work. Moreover, workers can work without even apprehending any health hazards.

There will also be a centre for testing of raw materials for quality control and at the same time, there will also be standardisation of work.

Citing an example, the official said that there has to be two separate entry and exit points of each of the units that will be developed at the cluster and as per the norms, those have to be at proper positions.

Moreover, the warehouses where the "highly inflammable" materials will be stored, will also have to be planned properly.

"So, the planning before initiating the work has to be foolproof," the official added. The officials of the department will be contacting the FRDC authorities soon.