On an average, firecracker factory blasts take place every two years. People are killed and again the government and administration refuse to learn from these incidents
Bhopal: Neither did they have a car nor 50 kg gold to hide in it. Neither did they have luxurious bungalows and offices in posh areas nor legal or illegal earnings of crores to keep in them. They had not even seen the government’s arbitrary figures of per capita income.
Therefore, they went from Madhya Pradesh to Gujarat in search of work, but even there they met death, for which the local administration seems to be responsible, which allowed an illegal firecracker factory to operate without a license.
Ajay, Vijay and Krishna, three minor brothers and their mother Guddi Bai will not ask for employment from anyone now and will never tell the government and administration that if latter cannot improve the lives of workers, then at least lock those factories which are illegal, because on Tuesday all four of them lost their lives in a blast in an illegal firecracker factory in Deesa, Gujarat.
These four are among those 18 unfortunate workers whose lives were sacrificed in the blast in this illegal firecracker factory.
Names of these workers now figure in the list of dead in the government records because those who were responsible for not allowing this illegal firecracker factory to operate and to save the lives of the workers did not take any action against this factory even though about 20 days ago during inspection it had come to light that the license of this factory had not been renewed.
According to the local media, 8 of the dead were from Harda and 10 were from Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. They had gone to Gujarat in search of work because last year after the blast and many deaths in an illegal firecracker factory in Harda, many firecracker factories in the district were closed.
But little did these workers know that the administration of the district 700 kilometers away from Harda, where they were happy to get work, was also a victim of the same chaos that they had seen in Harda.
The license of Harda firecracker factory was suspended in 2022, but later it was restarted in the name of Diwali. The administration should not have allowed this factory to run because its operation itself was illegal. Reason: This factory was running in the middle of a residential area and any explosion in the factory was also a threat to the lives of the residents there.
Accidents had taken place there in the past as well, but still the administration did not ensure that all safety standards were fully followed in this factory.
It is said that the factory had more explosive material than its capacity and there was no proper arrangement for firefighting system or other safety equipment for fire safety.
Although the death toll in Harda was reported to be 13, the way the police and administration prevented the media from going to the spot strengthened the apprehension in the minds of the people that the number was much higher.
After the incident, the same thing will happen in Gujarat as happened in Harda, that is, not fixing responsibility on any officer.
The immediate information that came to light in Harda was that the then collector had not given permission to operate the factory but a senior officer at his own level gave permission to operate the said factory in the name of Diwali.
Whether it is Madhya Pradesh or Gujarat or any other state, the problem is not of rules and laws. Rules and laws are enough but the problem is of those who run the system whose responsibility is to take every step that is necessary to save the life of a worker or employee or to protect his body from any kind of harm in any factory and especially in a factory where inflammable material is stored.
But the government and administration wake up only after every incident. Many steps are announced. Those involved in illegal activities are warned. An inquiry committee is formed and the report either does not come out or the report that comes is only to save those responsible.
The message of the incident that happened in Harda should have reached the whole country and the government and administration of every state should have ensured that learning from the Harda incident, safety standards will be followed in every factory and any illegal factory, especially the one storing inflammable materials, will be locked.
But in the last 30 years after the blast in a firecracker factory in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu in 1991 in which 39 people were killed and 65 injured a total of 14 major blasts have taken place in firecracker units alone in several states in which about 160 people have been killed.
This shows that on an average, firecracker factory blasts take place every two years. People are killed and again the government and administration refuse to learn from these incidents.
