Andhra Pradesh - Nellore   

Cracker manufacturers flout norms

By Our Staff Reporter

NELLORE, SEPT.13. The explosion of crackers in the Porlukatta area of Nellore town on Saturday night, that claimed three lives and injuring several others, has once again raised the question of proper official surveillance on illegal storage of ingredients required for the manufacture of crackers and finished products.

Storage of material

It is a known secret that the material is brought from Chennai and other places and is often stored in residential areas, besides godowns, often located in the main town. As per the existing guidelines, anybody intending to manufacture crackers and seeking procuring of manufacturing material, are supposed to get licence from a host of departments including the Revenue, Police, Fire and Labour. However it is observed more in breach rather than in practice and the system has been allowed to continue like that. In fact there have been several instances, when unauthorised storage has resulted in explosion and death of several innocent persons.

Select areas

The manufacturers are confined only to some selected areas in the town like Old Hospital Road and Chinna Bazaar. Several times, the finished articles are carried in tricycles and other vehicles in the busy thoroughfares. Yet no official or the police on duty have raised any objection.

With festivals like Vinayaka Chaturthi, Dassera and Deepavali fast approaching, the demand for crackers--either locally manufactured or purchased from Sivakasi--is bound to increase.

Since the cracker shops for the season are usually scattered all over the town, there was a proposal earlier that all them should be permitted to function at an open place in the town.

Opposed

However due to `opposition' from the traders and for other unexplainable reasons, the proposal has not taken a concrete shape, resulting in the sprouting of shops all over the town.

The gory incident on Saturday night, should be an eye opener for authorities and hopefully result in concrete preventive measures being taken.

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