Kerala HC allows fireworks display for Thrissur Pooram but with a caveat
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala High Court on Thursday said it would allow fireworks display for the upcoming Thrissur Pooram festival in the state, but ruled that the sound level should not exceed 125 decibel.
The division bench comprising Justices Thottathil B Radhakrishnan and Justice Anu Sivaraman made an exception for the festival and observed that no illegal substances should be used in the pyrotechnics.
It's decision came on a day when Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said his government would move the court against the ban on display of fireworks in temples in the state.
The High Court on Tuesday had banned the use of sound-making fireworks display in all places of worship in the state between sunset and sunrise, three days after the fire tragedy in Kollam’s Puttingal temple claimed over hundred lives.
However, the Kerala government disagreed with the court and decided to challenge the order after deliberations at an all party meeting.
Read: Board which manages 1,255 temples against ban on fireworks
“Fireworks display not to be banned in Kerala; it would be allowed with strict controls and checks,” Chandy told reporters after the all-party meeting.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the temple firework tragedy in Kollam rose to 114, with a 40-year-old man succumbing to injuries at a hospital on Thursday.
Sthayan, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital after suffering 50 per cent burns, died this morning, hospital sources said. He belonged to Edayad at Paravoor in Kollam.
A view of the damaged buildings at the spot where a massive fire broke out during a fireworks display at the Puttingal temple complex in Paravoor village. (Photo: PTI)
More then 300 persons were still undergoing treatment at hospitals in Thiruvananhpuram and Kollam for the injuries they sustained in the April 10 tragedy.
In view of what happened, anti-firework activists had asked the state government for a blanket ban on fireworks across the state for three months including the one held during Thrissur Pooram.
In the Thrissur and Palakkad districts all the major poorams having fireworks like Nenmara Vela, Uthralikkavu Pooram, Kuttiyangavu and Anthimahakalankkavu is over and the only major event remaining this season is Thrissur Pooram.
Read: Kerala temples spend Rs 1,500 crores annually on fireworks
They said that as many as 20,000 kg of gun power is used during Thrissur Pooram by each of the participants Paramekkavu and Thiruvambadi and the safety distance of 100 meters from the blasting ground is not strictly followed during Thrissur pooram as mentioned in the display licence issued by the district collectors for every firework.
However, both the state government and the Travancore Devaswom Board, which manages about 1,255 temples in Kerala, are against the complete ban of fireworks.
