Jamshedpur: Crackers are an inseparable part of Diwali celebrations. But if used without caution, they can darken many lives during the festival of lights. Blatant violation of safety regulations by cracker vendors in the city is a matter of concerns these days.
The scene on the busy Jugsalai Main Road which houses about 24 cracker shops, including those in adjoining residential areas, are hardly bothered to abide by any of the safety guidelines.
Gurucharan Singh, a resident of Jugsalai said the “whole market at the moment is on a bomb”. One spark can burn down the entire market in a minute, he said.
The basic guideline is about the site of the cracker shop. The place should be on the main thoroughfare where the fire tanker can reach in any unfortunate situation.
But it’s hardly being followed. According to information, the cracker shops are found in the lanes and by-lanes and an unique example is the Naya Bazaar lane and Goushala Road.
No tanker can reach such congested lanes. The situation is similar in several areas of Parsudih, Burmamines, Sakchi and Mango.
Another guideline says that there should be a minimum distance of at least three metres between two shops selling fire crackers.
Then there are minor precautions like keeping a fire extinguisher, sandbags, enough water storage and not to extend the shop boundaries. but all these were hardly visible.
The shops are full with crackers without any fire extinguishers. Meanwhile with an aim to check illegal selling of the fire crackers in the city the district administration has decided to take firm measures in this regard, including cancellation of the licence of the vendors found guilty of the crime.
According to district administration officials the police have been asked to keep an eye in the Jugsalai area for, it is the most vulnerable zone as far illegal transaction of fire crackers are concerned.
�Jugsalai for years has been the center for dubious dealings of fire crackers and by rough estimates transaction worth crores of rupees takes place every year in the that particular pocket,� informed a senior vigilance official.
Taking lesson from the past incidents the district administration is likely to constitute a team of the administrative and police officials who will make surprise visit to the market to get hold of the shops selling fire crackers illegally, if any.
The Sub Divisional Officer, (SDO), Dhalbhum, Prem Ranjan is likely to call a meeting of the fire crackers vendors, sometime this week, to thrash out the issues pertaining to the selling of the crackers.
�Apart from keeping check on the illegal selling of the fire crackers the administration also wish to see that shops are not opened up in the residential areas, to say the least,� said, the SDO.
“The Supreme Court’s guidelines bar firecrackers that are louder than 120 decibels, but the rules will once again be flouted this year. Firecrackers like sutli bombs and ‘atom’ bombs have decibel levels that are illegal,” said Prakash Sharma of the Gulmohar Foundation, which has been campaigning for less noise pollution.
He went on to add that the 10 pm noise deadline may have helped curb the menace, but even it is often flouted. Senior citizens and those who have heart ailments are plagued at night due to loud bombs.
There is also confusion over the rule stating that fireworks cannot be set off within 100 metres of silence zone.
