Even as his son Bharat battled burn wounds at a public hospital in Ahmedabad, Varsingbhai Charel performed the last rites of his daughter-in-law Ramila and four grandchildren in a Dahod hamlet on Sunday.
Ten people were killed in the explosion and subsequent fire at an illegal fireworks manufacturing unit in Ahmedabad’s Ramol on Saturday (July 18). Seven of them were from Dahod.
Five of the deceased were Varsingbhai’s immediate kin.
“The factory burned down, and I lost my whole family…” the patriarch tells The Indian Express as mourning women wail in his house in Sanjeli taluka’s Itadi.
“They (his family members) had been working in Ahmedabad since 2020 and for over three years in this particular factory. Nirav was born in Ahmedabad, and since the girls were growing up, my son wanted his children to be with him. They lived near the factory… So, the children were with their parents when they were at work on most days. My son and daughter-in-law were paid Rs 400 each.”
Bharat’s wife Ramila, 40, their daughters Rinku, 14, Ravina, 13, Shivani, 11, and son Nirav, 4, were among the dead.
Rinku and Ravina had dropped out of high school and had recently begun helping their parents at work, says the grandfather. “I had never imagined that this is how my family would end. What is left to live for?”
Tragedy struck another Dahod family in a village 15 km away from Itadi, when Govind Damor, 48, who was under treatment for severe burns from the Ramol accident, died on Monday. A day ago, Govind’s wife Usha had died of severe burns. The couple has three children.
Govind’s death made him the latest victim of the blast at the firecracker unit in Ramol-Vastral.
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The couple, from Malekpur in Singvad taluka, had returned to Ahmedabad barely 10 days before the accident. Like thousands of migrant workers, Govind and his family too switched between agriculture and factory work, chasing whatever means of livelihood was available to them.
“Both husband and wife had been working at the factory for three years. The family had learnt of Usha’s death on the day of the explosion… her body arrived in Malekpur on Sunday. Govind fought for his life on a ventilator before succumbing. His children now don’t have any parental support,” Raju Damor, a friend of Govind, said.
On Monday, hundreds gathered as Govind’s body was brought home. The couple’s eldest daughter, Anjana, 19, is pursuing a nursing course. Son Navrang, 16, goes to school. Gaurang, 7, was with his parents in Ahmedabad. He is now back in the village with his siblings.
Relatives and villagers urge the government to go beyond ex gratia compensation and assume responsibility for the siblings’ education and rehabilitation.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, respectively, to the relatives of those who were killed in the mishap; and Rs 50,000 from both to those injured.
Damor said, “The government has announced compensation, which is insufficient for the future of the three children… Their extended family members are also migrant workers. The children will now have to live with their grandparents, who were dependent on the couple…”
Factory owners arrested
Around 3.30 pm on Saturday, a blast ripped through a makeshift firecracker unit, located about a kilometre away from the Sardar Patel Ring Road, leading to a fire that killed five people on the spot.
At least 14 people were on its premises at the time. Ten of them, including four minors, were dead, and four others were under treatment for varying degrees of burns. The injured are hospitalised at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation-run LG Hospital in Maninagar and the Ahmedabad Civil hospital in Meghaninagar.
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The factory owners, identified as New Gujarat Fireworks’ Mehul Bhailal Dodiya and his mother Ramily and their partner Sadiq Shaikh, were arrested on Sunday for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. All three live in the Shahpur area of Ahmedabad.
Commissioner of Police Anupam Singh Gahlaut has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident. He previously said that the licence of the firecracker unit expired in March, and the accused were operating it illegally for the past 20-25 days, “taking advantage of police’s preoccupation in the bandobast for Rath Yatra (which was held on July 16).”
“They had employed people from different parts of Dahod to make (firecrackers)… the factory got orders for firecrackers for the upcoming immersion ritual of Lord Ganesha (Ganesh Visarjan),” Gahlaut had said.
Bleak reminder of Deesa mishap
In an affidavit filed before the Gujarat High Court following a public interest litigation filed after the firecracker warehouse blast of April 1 last year that killed 21 people in Deesa, Banaskantha, the Gujarat government had committed to following the safety norms and punishing violations.
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Shraddha Parmar, then Under Secretary, Home Department, had said in the affidavit that the State issued a comprehensive circular on June 30, 2025, laying down standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines for licensing authorities, district administrations and police to strengthen oversight of firecracker units.
According to the affidavit, the circular was issued after an SIT, constituted on April 2 under Revenue Secretary Bhavin Pandya, submitted its report on May 12. The circular was circulated to all municipal commissioners, district magistrates, commissioners of police and superintendents of police in the state.
The government had told the court that the guidelines required authorities to frame and follow standard procedures for granting and renewing licences, approving plans for firecracker manufacturing units and warehouses, ensuring compliance with fire safety norms, maintaining stock registers and conducting periodic inspections. The guidelines also assigned the responsibility of monitoring compliance to executive magistrates, sub-divisional magistrates and police officers above the rank of sub-inspector.
The Home Department had assured the High Court that strict action would be taken against licence-holders who violated safety norms and that licences would be cancelled wherever prescribed standards were breached.
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Advocate Utkarsh Dave, who represents the victims of the Deesa firecracker factory blast, says, “The incident in Ahmedabad is unfortunate. The authorities should learn from the past that such incidents shake the conscience of the laymen. All officials responsible should be terminated immediately… Despite an affidavit already filed by the Home Department, such an incident has happened, which shows how negligent officers are…”
Dave, who has also filed a separate petition in the Supreme Court seeking enhancement of compensation for victims of tragedies such as Morbi and Deesa, said, “The amount of compensation by the State and Centre should follow certain parameters, and not be merely a blanket figure of Rs 4 lakh. It should be calculated, as per the Sarla Verma case principles—on multipliers, income assessment..”
