Ujjain : Throwing all norms in the air, firecracker selling shops located in congested parts of the city are openly flouting the directions of the administration and explosives safety. This can lead to serious incidents like explosions and major outbreaks of fire at certain places and the Petalawad incident is recent example of the same.
Insiders said that any untoward incident could happen anytime as the directions were not followed by the sellers. The expert desiring anonymity said that many license holders in the city were storing explosive materials beyond their permissible limit of 400 kilogram. He said that beyond this limit the license for the storage was issued by the explosive department after making sure that the storage facility was located outside the city. There are many places in the old city, specially Nai Sadak, where these norms were being flouted with impunity. The sellers were storing the crackers in their small shops and even their houses that could prove to be dangerous.
He said the department could only inspect the shops but could not do anything substantial except writing to the officers in the Police Department. He further said that not only storage but other conditions regarding the sale of the crackers were not followed. As per the directions the adjacent stalls selling crackers should have a distance of 3 meter but nobody was following these directions as the shops with a common wall were keeping the crackers. At certain places the cots were lined together outside the premises of the shops. The expert said that this could lead to a major fire anytime. Moreover, the sellers were not bothering to keep fire-extinguishers and buckets filled with water or sand. If any mishap occurred, there would be no provision at all to put off the fire in the absence of the required extinguishing material. Loose crackers are also being sold in these shops.
ADM Avadhesh Sharma told Free Press, the administration is pro-active over the issue of explosives. Not only the manufacturing of any kind of firecrackers has been stopped in the district for months, the sellers have also been told the shift their shops to outskirts of the city. The shop keepers were given notice two months ago for shifting and the last date is September 24. After the due date the administration will crack whip on the violators. He said that any violator of the directions could be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment or could be fined Rs 3000 under the Explosive Substance Act, 1908, and Explosive Act, 1884.
