All households of Puruna Tigiria, Baneswarpada and some other villages under the Tigiria police station have turned the Tigiria area into a firecracker hub of the State but without the requisite licences.
It is alleged that the firecracker-making units are running in the knowledge of almost all administrative white-collars, police administration and political leaders.
The area also witness human casualties every year due to bursting of firecrackers. last year, more than 30 houses of Puruna Tigiria were gutted, one man was killed and several were injured due to cracker explosion a few days before Diwali, according to reports.
“This year also, almost all houses of Tigiria region are engaged in firecracker-making. It has been a season and traditional business of the people in this area for long,” said BK Parida, a social worker.
He lamented that though people are earning their livelihood by adopting fire-making as a business yet they are working under unsafe conditions. “They need to be taught modern safe techniques so that there would not be any life loss. The authorities should come out to their help,” said an intellectual.
On the other hand, police and administrative officers and local leaders are encouraging them to run the business without licence by taking a lot of bribe from them, he rued.
It is further alleged that when any casualty happens due to firecracker bursts all villagers are influenced to unit to give a different reason for the casualty. This helps both cracker makers and bribe takers to gain out of the business.
Though, a team of local police recently raided some units and seized some firecrackers yet intellectuals see the raid as a drama. “The news of raid was spread beforehand by police. It was only a drama,” said another social activist.
locals have demanded that the NHRC and the SHRC intervene into the illegal firecracker-making business soon to save lives.