Kollam: The judicial commission probing the Puttingal fireworks tragedy in 2016 that claimed 110 lives could not submit the report even after its deadline ended on Sunday.
This has happened due to the government’s delay in sanctioning funds and the commission has no money to even print and take copies of the report.
After three years, the commission has now sought an extension of one more month to submit the report.
“Financial difficulties have contributed to the delay in submitting the report. The budget allocation for the last term till March was over and the commission had to wait for new fund allocation from April, which affected its normal functioning,” an official told this newspaper.
The commission had sought new budget allocation in March itself, but it was sanctioned only recently. The report which is in the final stage has nearly 5,000 pages and several copies of the report have to be printed. The commission had conducted some 103 sittings and examined 173 witnesses in the case.
The Puttingal disaster took place on April 10, 2016, after a cracker house caught fire during a competitive firework held at the Puttingal temple at Paravur here.
The Crime Branch has found a total of 59 accused in the incident of which 37, including the temple committee members and fireworks people, have been slapped with murder charges.
The judicial probe ordered into the tragedy had earlier come to a standstill with the resignation of retired Justice N. Krishnan Nair. The government also failed to provide sufficient facilities for the commission to start the inquiry. The commission later led by Justice P.S. Gopinathan conducted various sittings, recorded the statements of witnesses and prepared the report.
