Sunday’s gruesome fireworks tragedy at Puttingal Devi Temple in Kollam, the worst such accident in the history of Kerala, occurred not due to lack of relevant rules but because of the callous attitude of authorities, festival committees and, to an extent, a large section of the people who are mad about pyrotechnic shows. The State witnessed over 750 tragedies in two decades claiming over 400 lives.
It is now clear that the fireworks show at Puttingal temple, which was effectively a competition between two rival sides participating in the festival, was held despite the district administration’s refusal to give permission. Allegations have already come up that top political leaders had intervened to ensure that the fireworks competition was held.
“The festival committee had submitted an application for permission for fireworks show. But it was for a competitive show. We rejected the application,” said Kollam District Collector A Shainamol. Despite this, the temple committee’s brochure had specifically announced that there would be a fireworks competition associated with the festival.
People living in the area now say that the tragedy would not have occurred if the festival committee, the police and other authorities went by the decision of the district administration and showed some seriousness to a complaint lodged by a person living near the temple requesting for a ban on the fireworks display.
Kerala has witnessed a total of over 750 pyrotechnic tragedies in the past two decades in which more than 400 people have been killed. Most of these accidents had taken place in Palakkad and Thrissur districts. Data show that Puttingal temple tragedy was the worst such accident in the State’s history.
The most gruesome fireworks tragedy that Kerala had witnessed till the Kollam accident was the one that occurred at Sabarimala, the mountainous Hindu pilgrimage centre, in the afternoon of January 14, 1952 in which 68 human lives were lost. Kollam district itself had witnessed a fireworks tragedy in 1990 in which 26 people were killed.
The Kerala High Court had as back as in 2003 given strict instructions prohibiting the use of highly hazardous fireworks items like “Gundu’ and “Dyna”, which explode up in the air with ear-shattering sound. Such items need huge amounts of explosive material in the projectiles as well as in the pits used for launching them.
In 2009, the High Court imposed restrictions on the use of materials that produce ear-shattering sound at festival fireworks. As per law, a licencee is permitted to have a stock of only 15 kilos of explosive materials at a time but even the authorities are fully aware of the fact that the contractors normally keep tons of such materials in their stockyards.
Though there are enough laws intended at controlling the use of explosive materials for festivals and on other occasions, experts point out that the State does not have a systematic pyrotechnic course or clearly defined criterion for issuing licences to contractors. The only serious stipulation is on the amount of explosives each licencee can keep, they point out.
“Explosives are dangerous substances but it does not mean that there should be accidents always. Pyrotechnic shows are being held across the globe. Now there are very advanced techniques for arranging such shows. But Keralites are still conducting these events in the crudest ways possible,” said a former fireworks specialist from Kundannur, Thrissur.
“But the worst enemy is the Keralites’ love for the thunderous blasts on the ground and up in the sky,” says the expert. “They don’t like the kind of colorful shows we generally see at events like the Olympics. For them, fireworks show means a show of thunderous sounds, which need huge stocks of explosive materials. That is very dangerous,” he adds.