MSME dept bats for issuance of temporary trade licenses for sale of green firecrackers

Kolkata: The state Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises & Textiles (MSME & T) department has written to district magistrates (DM) for issuance of temporary trade licenses for selling of green firecrackers ahead of the festivals.

The temporary shops that will be set up should maintain a distance of at least 3 metres from each and 50 metres from any protected works, the directions issued by the Principal Secretary of MSME & Textiles department read.

The temporary selling licenses will be issued as per Section 84 of Explosives Rules 2008. Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi, in a meeting last month, had directed the DMs and representatives of Sara Bangla Atashbazi Unnayan Samiti to identify vacant and vested lands where ever possible, in close proximity of existing firecracker manufacturing areas in consultation with the cluster stakeholders for setting up firecracker manufacturing/selling clusters.

It was also decided that the state government will provide all the support

in development of these clusters wherever the lands are identified/ procured.

Further, any existing vacant Karmatirtha buildings away from habitations can also be used for sale/storage activities.

The DMs/SPs were requested to identify vacant spaces where temporary selling licenses can be given to the firecracker sellers in the run up to festivals.

According to sources, some of these places have already been identified.

The state government has initiated the process of developing clusters across the state so that manufacturing units can be shifted to such places.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee already laid the foundation stone of five clusters across the state recently in virtual mode.