It could take months for the villagers living near Puttingal Devi temple at Paravur in Kerala’s Kollam to overcome the fear that engulfed them after the gruesome accident killed over 109 people on Sunday. Most of the villagers were living among the debris of their damaged homes, and the terrified children are still in a state of shock.
Jayasree, 55, sat on the front steps of her east-facing house unaware of the intense heat of the pre-noon summer sun. The floor of the main room and kitchen of her tile-roofed house had turned into a thick bed of debris. Broken tiles, wood splinters, pieces of concrete and patches of mortar lay all around her, but Jayasree made no attempt to clear the mess.
“This happens every year due to the fireworks show at the temple. I now curse that moment we decided to build our dream home here. Every year, we are forced to spend thousands of rupees to repair the house after the festival. I know that this will not end till those who conduct this festival undergo a mindset change, which is unlikely to happen ever,” she says.
The blast that occurred during the display was so intense that more than 150 houses within a radius of a kilometre from the temple suffered major and minor damage. “They have enough money to conduct this show. But they never think of compensating for the losses we suffer every year,” complained Jayasree.
Anitha (name changed), another woman in the village, said, “I can’t enter my house because it is filled with dust and shards of cracker items from the fireworks show. I am allergic to dust but can I tell the festival committee about itIJ I tried complaining once, but they told me that the temple could not be shifted so it would be better for me to consider the option.”
There are over 15 houses within a 25-metre distance from the temple’s Kambappura (storehouse for fireworks items), the epicentre of Sunday’s accident. “Just think of such an explosion, which could hurl large concrete blocks even to spots as far away as a kilometre, happening within 15 metres of the spot where you sit!” Anitha added.
Pankajakshi (80), a heart patient who owns a single-storey concrete house just a stone’s throw away from the Kambappura, had the courage to make her son Prakash formally complain to the district authorities demanding a ban on the fireworks display and they responded positively. But that was when she saw the “real face” of the festival committee.
Pankajakshi said that they were asked to withdraw the complaint, received threats and were showered with abuses. “I have always feared that this (accident) could happen during one festival. And every year, after the festival, the persistent explosions of crackers used to damage the house. I was fed up,” she says.
ENT specialists in Paravur town, about one-and-a-half kilometres away from the temple, said they were getting complaints about pain in the ears from people in the village. “This is quite natural,” said a doctor. “But what I really fear about is the psychological fallout, particularly in children. We will have to hold medical camps with counseling sessions,” he said