Despite mounting death toll, illegal cracker units thrive in districts

NAIHATI/BARUIPUR/MIDNAPORE: The blast in Naihati’s Masjidpara firecracker factory was the third such incident in the past couple of years. At least four people were killed in the two other incidents in the same Mamudpur gram panchayat area, under which Masjidpara also falls. But the administration never launched a crackdown on illegal fire-cracker factories that continue to thrive in Naihati.

“There are nearly 100 such factories running illegally inside residential houses at Masjidpara and Debak villages. Three workers had died in a similar manner in the area last year. Two of them were child labourers and another a middle-aged woman, all of whom were burnt to death,” said a local. In 2017, an elderly man was killed in another blast at a firecracker unit at Mamudpur near Debak.
Locals alleged that panchayat authorities and police hardly take action against such illegal firecracker factories run in crowded localities despite of several deaths in such explosions. “The factory at Masjidpara was also illegal, as the government has banned such units in the state. But this firecracker unit was being run for over two decades. Despite our repeated appeals, the panchayat and police are yet to take any action,” a local woman said.
Locals said that such was the intensity of Friday’s blast that tremors were felt in houses located at least four to five kilometres from the spot.
Villagers on Friday afternoon gathered at the spot and staged an agitation, claiming that there are several such illegal units in the Debak-Mamudpur area where women, children and teenagers are employed. Some agitators turned violent and attacked a portion of the factory godown that remained unscathed. Others demanded that the factory owner pay proper compensation to the victims’ families.
Police are looking for owner Sheikh Nur Hossain, a Masjidpara resident who is absconding. “We were not aware of such units operating in the panchayat area. After the blast, we have sent a large force to conduct raids in the area,” said Dhrubajyoti Dey, joint commissioner of Barrackpore police.
South 24 Parganas has also witnessed blasts in fire cracker factories at least once a year since 2017. Four lives were lost in the blasts.
Four blasts have been repoted from West Midnapore, too, since 2015. These blasts have left 15 dead. The district administration says it has not issued licences to any cracker units.