Lakhiram Pathak: 133 Year Old Legacy of Eco-Friendly Crackers

Lakhiram Pathak: Today, when we’re on the verge of a global crisis due to environmental issues, pollution, and global warming, we see that many nature-friendly laws are often passed. One such problem always occurs during Diwali due to the pollution created by the crackers. Today we are talking about one such initiative which has recently got recognition.

An Assam-based firework business has been quietly promoting environmental well-being by making low-intensity and less polluting crackers for generations, long before the Supreme Court’s directive to use green or less polluting crackers.

A young man Lakhiram Pathak established Manoranjan Fireworks in Barpeta town, 101 kilometers from Guwahati, in Assam, in the early 1980s. In those days, Lakhiram was in his twenties. He was given a book on creating firecrackers by one of his close friends, Lakhi Nabish, and that book gave him the inspiration to launch this unusual business. On a visit to Dhaka, Nabish discovered this Bengali-language book.

Lakhiram picked up several strategies from the book on making fireworks. The book described the procedures that the Chinese at that time used to follow to create crackers. Gopojit Pathak, the current manager of the business and the grandson of Lakhiram Pathak, said that his grandfather made certain improvements in the process and developed a formula that was less harmful to nature.

Today, even after so many years the tradition continues to exist and now that the Govt has banned the use of highly chemical-based crackers, this Assam-based venture has received huge offers. The great part about their manufacturing is, they don’t use Barium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate and these two have already been banned by the Supreme Court.

As these crackers are made by the locals, they not only promote entrepreneurship and employment in the area but also help the locals sustain their identity and cultures through this.

By the time the Apex court had issued a directive, the Sivakasi crackers had dominated the Indian market in a 99 percent proportion. The order is also hazy. Green crackers don’t have a definition. In order to support the domestic industries, which are quietly trying to make a difference, more stringent rules must be implemented. But this legacy of a century-old way of making Eco-Friendly Crackers is highly commendable and deserves to be heard in every corner of the world.