Thrissur: After holding a hearing on traditional fireworks and display at Thrissur and Palakkad, the Union Commerce and Industry joint secretary Shailendra Singh will submit a report to Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the first half of February before the major temple and church festival to be conducted in the state this year. Shailendera Singh during the hearing held at the collectorate in Thrissur underlined the need to use fireworks authorized by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization (PESO).
At the hearing, when the festival committee members of poorams including the representatives of Thrissur Thiruvamabadi and Paramekkavu temples sought relaxation of rules for fireworks in terms of the quantity and timings citing that thousands of devotees and pooram buffs attended temple and church festivals, the joint secretary intervened to say ‘human life is more precious than anything else’.
M Madhavankutty and Rajesh G of Thrivambadi and Paramekakvu Devaswoms told Mr Singh that they were ready to accept any guidelines for the safe conduct of the fireworks for Thrissur Pooram but sought an increase in the limit of gun powder from 15 kg to 500 kg. While more than 15 people representing devaswoms and churches reassured Singh during the hearing that incident-free fireworks could be conducted, an expert on noise pollution and V K Venkitachalam of Heritage Animal Task Force alleged that blatant violation of the Explosive Rules 2008 and norms regarding decibel limits, to be followed near Hospitals and archaeological monuments in Thrissur Town, occurred during pooram fireworks.
Venkitachalam, in his petition to the panel, said that PESO’s chemical testing of gunpowder should be conducted before the Thrissur Pooram fireworks saying that test results showed the presence of banned potassium chlorate. Last year, the samples were collected by the organization before the fireworks, but results showing the presence of chlorate came out a few months after the fireworks were held. The hearing will be held in Palakkad on Tuesday.
