After the fireworks

The only redeeming aspect of a tragedy, no matter how minuscule its import compared to the destruction wrought, is perhaps that it focuses the attention of the nation on the basics. Maybe it needed a raging blaze at the Bharatpur depot, the second largest in all of India, to awaken the armed forces to the dismal arms management that obtains in its ammunition dumps. Maybe now the ludicrous mix of twenty-first century gadgetry and eighteenth century storage facilities will finally bestir the forces into remedial action. Then again, maybe we are being a bit too charitable. So it would seem if history is a reliable guide. The challenge before the armed forces after the Bharatpur fire lies not just in determining the cause of the fire and in undertaking a wide-ranging inquiry into the safety of ammunition dumps, but also in demonstrating that they are after all willing to and capable of learning from the disaster.

Scan the tragedy thus far. After 12,000 tonnes of ammunition officially valued at Rs 376 crore goes up in flames, as rockets rain down on unsuspecting villagers, as humble dwellings in the neighbourhood are reduced to ash, the probable culprit seems so obvious that it’s almost laughable. Ten-foot-high elephant grass. Some say it was cultivated to camouflage the ammunition store, others charge that lackadaisical contractors had failed to prune it for two long years. Now if this was the result of a well-thought-out policy, no matter how faulty, it would have been somewhat forgiveable. But the fact that it is a fallout of cyclical amnesia leaves little room for hope that lessons from Bharatpur will be heeded, that Major General C.B. Suku’s court of inquiry will herald a more secure ordnance storage regime. For, the court of inquiry instituted more than a decade ago after a debilitating inferno at the country’s largest ammunition depot at Pulgaon too had made certain recommendations. These included not allowingelephant grass to grow near ammunition and installing firefighting systems.

An inquiry after an earlier blaze at the Jabalpur arms depot had also recommended that all ammunition be stored under a covered roof. And yet, it is estimated that more than 60 per cent of the army’s ammunition lies in the open in 15 major ordnance depots. Surely, battle preparedness lies as much in maintenance as in acquisition of arms. Moreover, along with modernisation, decentralisaton of the arms storage network too must be considered.

However, while investigating the sabotage angle and while sifting out rogue ammunition, the human dimension of the Bharatpur fireworks display must not be ignored or forgotten. The Union defence minister has stated that compensation would be provided within a week of receiving the Rajasthan Government’s report on the loss to life and property. And so he must, speed and magnanimity must inform the government’s drive to provide relief to the scarred villagers.