Nayagarh: With the festival of lights around the corner, illegal firecracker manufacturing units have mushroomed under various police station limits in Nayagarh district. Consequently, the threat of cracker explosion looms large in the concerned areas, a report said Wednesday. What is worrisome is that most of these cracker manufacturing units have been set up within human habitats sans valid license and these operate in a clandestine manner to avoid getting caught by others and police. These units, mostly operating from residential houses, not only manufacture crackers illegally but also store them for sale at a later date. No government norm is followed during the manufacturing and sale of crackers. This is likely to endanger people’s lives in case a mishap occurs in any of these units. Despite the threat involved to the life and property of the denizens, police are yet to take action against the cracker manufacturers. Everything is happening under their nose, but police have been sitting pretty on the issue despite the death of as many as 14 persons in cracker explosions during the last 11 years.
Similarly, illegal firecracker shops have also come up in this district headquarters town as well as various rural areas with Diwali drawing near. Locals have questioned who will be held responsible in case a major explosion takes place due to illegal manufacturing and reckless storage of crackers. While the threat of cracker blasts looms large, police have started conducting raids on cracker manufacturing units in their respective areas during the Dussehra festival. Locals termed the raids being undertaken to be just eyewash by police officials. Except for arresting one or two persons, they never take any stringent action to stop the mushrooming of illegal cracker manufacturing units. Residents of the area alleged that the arrests have failed to deter the cracker manufacturers as they carry on their business with impunity even after the raids.
Reports said four persons died in a cracker blast at Gobindpur village under Itamati police limits in 2012 while eight died in a similar blast at Tantisahi in Itamati in 2016. One person was killed at Godipada village in 2019 while another died at Tendabadi under Sarankul police limits in 2015. All these blasts occurred at cracker manufacturing units based within and close to human habitats. The police action against cracker manufacturing units from 2012 to 2019 has not been satisfactory, locals alleged. It seems the police have meekly surrendered before the illegal cracker manufacturers, they lamented. Police have failed to launch a crackdown against the illegal cracker manufacturers.
However, no untoward incident has taken place in the past three years. Cracker manufacturing units have mushroomed even in villages and crackers are sold illegally by people without a valid license. Nayagarh town, Godipada, Itamati, Jamusahi of Bhapur block, and Korada village under Nuagaon block have turned into hubs of illegal cracker production and sale. Fear of a major mishap cannot be ruled out in the future as the cracker manufacturers do not abide by the government norms while establishing their units. This is also taking a toll on the manufacturers who are in the business with a valid license.
A cracker trader requesting anonymity said that police are fully aware of the illegal cracker manufacturing units set up in human settlements. These illegal businesses have thrived as the police and manufacturers are hand-in gloves to run the units. The manufacturers run their business by greasing the palms of police and other government officials. Police feign ignorance about these units whenever any mishap occurs in the area under their jurisdiction. When contacted, Nayagarh Sadar police station IIC Anita Sahu, her Itamati counterpart Dillip Swain and Sarankul counterpart Pushpalata Behera said they are keeping a close watch on these illegal activities and such units are being raided in frequent intervals. Fategarh IIC Sujit Kumar Das said raids are being carried out for Durga Puja festival on the direction of the SP. Recently, they seized illegal firecrackers worth Rs 80,000 and arrested a person Bhagaban Nayak in this connection. Nuagaon police IIC Narayan Chandra Lenka also said that they recently arrested a person for his involvement in illegal cracker manufacturing and sale from Korada village.