The tragedy at Paravur temple in Kerala on early Sunday has once again brought to focus the danger involving use of fire crackers during festive seasons.
Across India, 1,204 people were killed in 1,236 incidents involving fire crackers in three years between 2011 and 2013.
According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), there were 456 incidents of fire cracker accidents in 2013 in which 462 people lost their lives. This is the latest official figures available with the government so far.
In 2013, Uttar Pradesh had the highest number of 89 deaths in 93 incidents. Madhya Pradesh had 92 deaths in 92 incidents while Gujarat had 66 deaths in as many incidents.
Kerala reported 17 deaths in 14 incidents in 2013, according to NCRB’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) 2013 report.
In 2012, there were 505 deaths in 468 incidents while 2011 witnessed 237 deaths in 312 cases.
Though incidents involving fire accidents in factories manufacturing combustible items like fire crackers and match box are part of ADSI 2014, it does not give figures on other fire cracker related incidents alone. According to this figure, there were 143 incidents in such units in 2014.
Sunday’s incident is not the first such incident this year in Kerala in which fire crackers at festivals have resulted in tragedy. On January 22, a woman was killed when a warehouse attached to a temple in Ernakulam district caught fire. The accident happened during the production of crackers for the festival.
Officials said locals always insist on getting permission for fire cracker display citing long standing tradition. They said many times local administration finds it difficult to enforce regulations on such matters as it can create local tension. Also, many a times, the political leadership also intervene to circumvent the regulations.
“Even if one enforces regulations, such accidents can take place. So the need is to take maximum precaution. We need to have stricter rules and regulations to deal with such situations,” a senior official said.