District administration and fire safety department are demanding written assurances from fireworks sellers, stating that they have made adequate fire safety arrangements to keep accidents at bay and are following trade and environment regulations. Not stopping here, functionaries of these departments assure constant vigilance to check any slip-ups from safety point-of-view.
In a meeting with wholesale and retail firecracker traders few days back, Ranchi district administration had instructed them to submit affidavits stating that they have followed the safety regulations while storing the bangers, are not selling foreign made fireworks and those with noise levels over 125 decibels.
“The police stations, and even the office of Senior Superintendent of Police, have been notified to conduct regular inspections in cracker shops in their jurisdictions. local authorities have been directed to strictly ensure implementation of safety measures. The sellers have been informed about the safety and trade norms beforehand,” stated Executive Magistrate Narendra Gupta.
On compliance with these norms, the shop owners assured to obey them since long back and to continue the practice this year too. “We keep fire extinguishers in our shop and godowns round the year. The electrical main switches in both the places already have circuit-breakers installed to cut off to prevent fires short circuits. These safety arrangements are not new to our shop; and we keep them updated,” said Pradeep Singhania, proprietor of Trade Friends.
Following restrictions imposed by Government of India on sale of foreign firecrackers, the same has been advised to the traders. And the traders guarantee compliance on this front too, again out of habit.
We bring in our merchandise from Shivkashi and other traders do the same, as it is the biggest pyrotechnics producing area of the nation and has the climate to support manufacturing of really high-quality fireworks, Singhania said.
But when it comes to checking noise pollution levels from the firecrackers, there surfaces an apparent lack of proper mechanism. No paraphernalia to measure the sound generated by firecrackers can be found in the city, nor are any on the cards.
We inform and appeal the sellers and buyers to refrain from crackers above the prescribed noise levels, stated Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board Chairman Devvrat Sharma.
“There are two kinds of fireworks sellers in the city, those who have proper license and those who don’t. We don’t have to worry about licensed sellers going against the instructions as we can regulate them. Problem lies with the non-licensed ones. But we have amped up vigilance and strict action will be taken against the defaulters,” said Gupta.
Even if all the preparedness fails, the fire department is also geared up to tackle any untowardly incidents. “Between our four fire stations in Ranchi, we have adequate fire engines to tackle any emergency and they will be placed at vulnerable points as pointed by district administration. We are vigilant round the year and Diwali will be no different,” said State Fire Officer Mahanand Singh.