Mishaps: Operations Halted at Fireworks Units Before Inspection in East Godavari
Teams of officials from the revenue, police and fire force have been formed at divisional and mandal levels for a fresh round of inspections.
Vijayawada: The erstwhile East Godavari district has been witnessing a series of mishaps at fireworks manufacturing units, claiming several lives in the last few years.
Following the mishap claiming seven lives at a fireworks manufacturing unit at Rayavaram in Konaseema district, the East Godavari district administration on Wednesday issued an order to stop manufacture of fireworks at all the licenced premises with immediate effect.
Officials do occasional “inspections” and claim that they are keeping a close watch on them. But, all is not well on this front.
In a mishap in October last year, six persons including two women lost their lives as lightning struck a fireworks manufacturing unit in Suryaraopalem , Undrajavaram, in East Godavari. In another mishap, reported in April this year, eight persons died and seven were injured in a mishap at a fireworks manufacturing unit in Anakapalli district. A majority of the victims were from East Godavari district.
The district has fireworks manufacturing units mainly in Rayavaram, G Mamidaiah and Biccavole falling in Anaparthy assembly constituency. A few instances of minor mishaps were reported in these places in the past.
At present, 45 fireworks manufacturing and wholesale units having LE1 and LE5 licences exist in the district.
Teams of officials from the revenue, police and fire force have been formed at divisional and mandal levels for a fresh round of inspections.
They have been entrusted with the task of inspecting the factory premises to ascertain whether they are complying with fire safety norms. These teams would submit their reports to the district collector. The licensees would be permitted to resume manufacturing of fireworks if they had complied with the safety norms.
“Those who failed to comply with safety norms would be given some time to set things right. If they still fail to fall in line, punitive action would follow,” officials said.
Meanwhile, East Godavari collector Chekuri Keerthi called a meeting on Thursday with manufacturers of fireworks. The district medical and health officer has also been asked to form teams of doctors and health personnel to immediately rush and provide medical treatment in case any incident occur in the run up to the Diwali festival.
