The Kerala Government will hold an all-party meeting on Thursday to discuss whether fireworks displays should be banned in the State in the wake of Sunday’s gruesome tragedy during a pyrotechnic show at the Puttingal Devi temple in Paravur, Kollam which claimed 111 lives even as it was found that almost all rules and norms concerning the use of explosives had been violated by the organisers of the event.
After a preliminary interrogation of seven persons from the temple administration committee who had surrendered since late Monday night, Additional DGP S Ananthakrishnan, heading the special team of the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch probing the tragedy, informed that it was indeed the competitive fireworks show and not a simple ritual that was held at the temple.
“The Government will formulate a policy on fireworks displays after reaching a consensus at the all-party meeting,” Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told newsmen in Thiruvananthapuram after chairing a meeting of senior officials and doctors attending on those injured in the Puttingal temple tragedy.
Chandy’s announcement came a few hours before the Kerala High Court slapped a ban on high-intensity fireworks displays between sunset and sunrise and pyrotechnic shows that produced sound above 140 decibel during daytime. Chandy’s Government and its police force had come under scathing criticisms from the court over the fireworks tragedy.
On Tuesday, Chief Controller of Explosives Sudarshan Kamal and his team who had carried out extensive examinations on the premises of the temple where the accident occurred prepared a preliminary report saying that the display was held in violation of almost all laws concerning the use of explosives and fireworks shows.
They found that potassium chlorate, a high-intensity explosive chemical the use of which has been banned in such events, had been used in high quantities in the fireworks show at the temple. The organisers had also violated the norm that there should be no houses or buildings within a distance of 100 metres from the spot of the show.
It was also found that the steel barrels from which projectiles were to be launched had not been installed as per the rules. According to experts, the explosive materials had been stored in a shed that had not conformed to stipulated safety norms and that the exact proportion in which chemicals were mixed could not be assessed as all the explosives had been spent.
ADGP Ananthakrishnan said that the temple committee had gone for competitive fireworks show after convincing the police that only a ritual fireworks show would be held. He said the inquiry at the moment was focused on how the accident took place based on the statements of the members of the temple committee who had been arrested.
Five members of the temple committee including its president and secretary had surrendered late Monday night while two more members surrendered on Tuesday. Sources said that seven of the eight remaining committee members could surrender before the police at any moment. The police had already taken into custody six workers hired by the contractor of the show.
With Surendran of Kazhakkoottam, contractor of the fireworks show, and his brother and assistant Sathyan succumbing to the injuries suffered in the explosion at the temple, the toll in the tragedy rose to 111 on Tuesday. Surendran had suffered 90 percent burns. His two sons, injured in the accident, are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.
According to Chandy, 351 persons injured in the accident were undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts and that the condition of 27 of them was serious while three were in critical condition. As many as 13 bodies were yet to be identified and efforts for identification through scientific examinations would start on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, explosive experts on Tuesday defused almost all the high-intensity materials found near a temple at Sarkara in Kollam from where these were brought to the Puttingal temple. The remaining explosives will be defused on Wednesday. Also, a team of forensic experts held examinations at the accident site on Tuesday.