Centre urged to enforce norms

Nov. 26: CPI (M) Rajya Sabha MP T.K. Rangarajan has urged the Central government to take immediate efforts to check the malpractices that are happening at the fire works manufacturing units in Sivakasi and to enforce the precautious method envisaged in the In-dian Explosive Act to avoid frequent fire accidents.
Raising the matter of urgent public importance in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Mr Rangarajan said, in the recent past several accidents have occurred in fire work manufacturing units in Siv-akasi, killing several people and injuring many. “I sadly point out that neither the provisions in the Indian Ex-plosive Acts nor the Rules framed there under are im-plemented. Particularly wh-ile the manufacturing seas-on starts for the Diwali, manufacturers, in their anxiety to catch the markets, violate all rules and norms specified in the said Act,” he said in his speech, a copy of which is available here.
Mr Rangarajan said, “In India, as the demand is seasonal, huge quantity of manufactured fire crackers are stored in a single place against the rules and whenever accident happens, it results in huge loss of lives. It is also reported that in addition to licensing units, a number of unlicensed units also engage in manufacturing crackers.”