Kolkata, April 3
The recent blast at an illegal firecracker factory at Patharpratima in the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal revealed how stringent guidelines regarding the manufacturing, storage and selling of fireworks were bypassed.
Investigation so far has revealed that Chandrakanta Banik, one of the two accused, attempted to get a “green licence” in 2023 for manufacturing firecrackers, but the district administration objected because Banik had been arrested for trading in illegal fireworks earlier.
Questions are now being raised about how the district police remained ignorant of such a person continuing to run an illegal firecracker factory business at his residence even after his application for getting a “green licence” was rejected by the district administration.
This situation is after police verification is an important aspect of the process of granting or rejecting the green licence.
Investigations so far have revealed that Chandrakanta and his younger brother Tushar Banik used to run the business of manufacturing and distribution of firecrackers from their residence at Patharpratima illegally.
They did this by obtaining an ordinary trade licence from the local panchayat, which did not come with permission to manufacture firecrackers.
Questions are also being raised on how many more similar illegal firecracker manufacturing units in West Bengal are currently bypassing the guidelines which are otherwise quite stringent on paper.
As per the ‘West Bengal Green Firecracker Manufacturing, Storage and Selling Scheme’, permission for the purchase of firecrackers or fireworks up to 15 kgs for commercial selling can be granted by the District Magistrate.
The same permission is granted by the office of the Controller of Explosives in case the purchase amount ranges between 15 kgs and 500 kgs. Any permission for purchase above that amount has to be granted from the office of the Chief Controller of Explosives.
“The regulations and guidelines on paper are quite watertight to ensure safe manufacturing of explosives. But subsequent blasts at such illegal factories in West Bengal have raised the question of how far proper monitoring is done to ensure that these norms are followed in reality,” said a senior state government official who refused to be named.
For the last couple of years, West Bengal has been in the national headlines because of unfortunate deaths due to illegal firecracker factories or warehouse blasts.
In February this year, four persons were killed and several others were injured following a blast at a firecracker factory at Kalyani in Nadia district of West Bengal.
In 2023, as many as nine people were killed in a similar blast at an illegal firecracker factory at Egra in East Midnapore district.
There were similar blasts at Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas and Duttapukur in North 24 Parganas districts in the last couple of years, killing several people.
After every incident the administration warns of strong action against such illegal firecracker entities. Police raids continue for some time and then everything returns to the way it was and it’s back to business for the illegal firecracker manufacturers.
