After 14 deaths near Bengaluru, safety at cracker shops in focus

Ramesh Gowda, who runs a shop near Balaji Crackers, kept his outlet shut Sunday. Gowda said, “It was about 3.30 pm (Saturday) and some of the workers were unloading crackers from a truck. I heard a loud noise and saw that the truck had caught fire. While some workers started to run, it was too late for others to escape as the fire spread to the shop in no time. The crackers continued to burst for the next 20-30 minutes.”

Workers who were unloading the crackers managed to escape but people working inside the shop could not, Gowda added.

Incidentally, the sale of crackers is a major source of income near the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border. Ahead of Deepavali every year, hundreds of cracker shops sprout along the highway on a nearly 20 km stretch starting from Hosur.

Ramesh, another eyewitness, said, “Selling crackers is big business, especially before Deepavali. The traders buy crackers from Sivakasi (a town in Tamil Nadu that houses the maximum number of cracker factories in India) in bulk and bring them here. They engage workers to repack the crackers in gift boxes… It is a time when one can make quick money. Sometimes, workers earn up to Rs 1,000 every day and the traders provide them with meals and accommodation as well.”

While the government has made it mandatory for traders to procure a temporary license to sell crackers and follow fire safety norms including storing water and keeping the provision of emergency exit doors at shops, such rules are rarely implemented, said locals.

Murugan, a local trader, said, “There is a huge profit margin in the cracker business. If you buy a crore worth of crackers, you can make a profit of more than 100-150 per cent. These big traders who buy crackers worth crores from Sivakasi, pay bribes to the local police to turn a blind eye. Until now, they were never questioned or it was never a point of debate.”

Murugan said other shops in the vicinity fortunately did not catch the fire. There were a couple of wine shops next to the cracker shop, he added.

According to a police officer, Balaji Crackers owner Ramaswamy Reddy and his son had bought crackers worth Rs 5 crore from a factory in Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu to sell during Deepavali.

Bengaluru (Urban) DC K A Dayanand said they had permitted the shop to sell crackers and not to store them in bulk. “The owner has violated the licence conditions and stored more than 1,000 kg of firecrackers. The licensing authority has not permitted anyone to store crackers. We will ensure that the rules are followed,” he said.

When the Indian Express visited the gutted shop, it found that the 2,400 sq. feet shop space had a cement roof, with no emergency exit but a small door that connected to the godown behind the shop. In the godown, crackers were stored which also caught fire.

Reacting to the tragedy, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said the government will form a new policy and guidelines to prevent such cracker mishaps. He said, “We have instructed the police and district administrations to conduct a safety check of godowns and shops selling firecrackers.”