Teams inspecting fireworks units in Sivakasi after the recent accident at Mudalipatti which claimed 39 lives have ordered the temporary suspension of 28 fireworks units in the district. After the accident, 11 teams with each team consisting of officials from the departments of explosives, revenue, health and fire and rescue services, police, factory inspectors, were formed and they carried out inspections in 193 fireworks units.
Violations were found in 28 fireworks units, which have been asked to suspend work on a temporary basis, official sources said. Some of the major violations found in the units were surplus stocking of chemicals and finished products in the units, deploying excessive staff in the production rooms and not adhering to safety norms, they said. "They will be closed down temporarily till they rectify the violations. The inspections were effective as most of the units started following the stringent safety norms," said Sivakasi RDO, S G Rangan.
Meanwhile, Sivakasi Town police arrested the lorry shed owner M Vinothkumar (32) under charges of negligence with respect to explosive substance and Section 9 B 1B of the Explosives Act in connection with the fire accident occurred in Muthupriay Lorry shed in Muslim Thykka street in Sivakasi on Monday due to stocking of fireworks. "Stocking fireworks in truck sheds is illegal. They should load the consignments from the regular godowns situated in the outskirts. We have initiated a raid in the truck sheds to find out irregularities," Rangan said.
Industrial sources said that it was usual practice to collect the fireworks consignments from many units and load them in trucks from the shed. The incident on Monday had occurred due to wrong handling of fireworks. "It is a general practice here and with Diwali season nearing, the units are hurrying to despatch the products," said a fireworks unit owner.
Industrial sources also remembered a project that was initiated by the then district collector, Siji Thomas Vaidyan in 2010. She had suggested the formation of a cluster of fireworks godowns in 50 to 100 acres of land, eight kms away from the town on Bypass Road so that all the fireworks consignments could be accumulated in one place from where they could be dispatched in the trucks. However, the project never materialised. "Such a kind of set up would have greatly helped the fireworks units. The state government can consider setting up such a common infrastructure to stock and load the fireworks", said A M S G Ashokan, a fireworks owner in Sivakasi.
Meanwhile, officials, who are raiding truck sheds found on Tuesday that one Logarajan of Annai Transports in Thiruthangal had stocked 5,800 boxes of fireworks worth Rs 1.16 crore. Officials seized the boxes and sealed the lorry shed. He was arrested by Thiruthangal police and was later released on bail, police sources said.