Losing the explosives’ trail

The group,which had the Defence Secretary and the chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing as members,

submitted its findings to the Cabinet Secretary last month.

The report,a copy of which is with The Indian Express,lists the various categories of explosives used in India for subversive and terrorist activities and reveals that unlike the USA,Canada and Australia,the country does not have a regulatory mechanism in place for,say,manufacture and transportation of ammonium nitrate.

In the section on “possible points” of leakage and pilferage of explosives,the Explosives Group has pointed out the following startling facts:

• That despite the Explosives Rules being framed in 1983,pilferage of explosives at the users’ end continued due to the high volumes manufactured and used.

• The PESO (Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation) remains hamstrung due to manpower shortage. The existing strength of the PESO,the report notes,is “far inadequate to effectively regulate/monitor activities” under the Acts and rules.

• Explosive-making material like gunpowder,potassium chlorate,ammonium nitrate,power gel and neo gel are available for sale in the open market. Gelatin sticks,used for blasting rocks by contractors,find their way to terrorists/anti-national elements through vested interests.

• The main source of explosives reaching Naxalites is reported to be some unscrupulous mining contractors,businessmen and transporters who supply explosives to anti-social elements in connivance with factory owners. Thus,“Any connivance of the transporters and their employees with terrorists may result in diversion of explosives to terrorists hands.”

• Some amount of pilferage for illegal sale is learnt to be there from the place of manufacture/storage,particularly in the mining/quarrying industries.

The high-level group has emphasised that since ammonium nitrate was imported in an “un-bagged” form,there were chances of pilferage from import points and that,as yet,there was no mechanism like issuing of excise gate pass or challan for the consignments. Also,there was no restriction “whatsoever” in trading in of the chemical through dealers/sub-dealers or regulatory mechanism to identify end users.

The expert group has noted that “since ammonium nitrate is easily available in the market,its transportation does not raise suspicion,unlike RDX,as the chemical is not a banned substance”.

As highlighted by The Indian Express (October 7-11,2007),the PESO over the past few years received information about thousands of kilograms of slurry explosives and thousands of detonators and fuses being stolen from Government magazines but police agencies managed to recover only a fraction of the stolen consignments.

The Explosives Group’s findings confirm the shocking laxity and have pointed out that despite explicit instructions to the district authorities,the PESO still does not receive any feedback or details of action taken in case of a loss or theft of explosives. “Communication between PESO and the district authorities if made adequately effective,enforcement mechanism could be strengthened,” the group says.

Year on,Govt yet to move on report to change Act

It took over a year for the high-level expert group to examine the issue of manufacture/possession and use of explosive material and submit its findings. And the response of the various ministries/departments concerned to bring ammonium nitrate into the regulatory stream has been even slower—despite the fact that the chemical has been used in several recent terrorist attacks and bomb blasts.

While the Government has already taken legislative steps to bring ammonium nitrate under the purview of the Explosives Substances Act,there has been an inexplicable delay of several months in amending the rules and regulations of the 1908 Act. Ideally,both the legislative steps should have been introduced in tandem.

Officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs said they were presently “overburdened” with other pressing issues and were in the process of obtaining opinions from various stakeholders,including manufacturers for finalising the draft amendments before taking the same for approval of the Union Cabinet.