The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the State Government to verify about the insurance coverage taken by the committee of Nadakkavu temple at Thripunithura for display of fireworks.
The court issued the directive when a petition relating to the display of fireworks came up for hearing.
Meanwhile, the Additional District Magistrate (ADM) told the High Court that the organisers had blatantly violated the directives of the Supreme Court, High Court, Ministry of Commerce and Industry besides the conditions set by the District Collector in the licence granted to them.
The report of the ADM pointed out that improper and careless fixing of ‘amittu’ on the ground had caused ‘amittu stand’ to topple on the ground when the explosives were lit. The toppling had resulted in fireworks landing at the feet of spectators, causing them injuries.
The report also said that the organisers had misled the High Court by producing a falsified plan of the fireworks display site in which they indicated that the mandatory safety distance of 100 metres was available between the fireworks display site and spectators. When the police were trying to move the spectators to a safe distance from the fireworks area, the organisers lit the fireworks in disobedience of the directions, resulting in the accident.
In fact, the district authorities had asked the organisers not to conduct the fireworks when it noticed violations of various conditions. The report also said that the seizure of unexploded explosives from the scene revealed that the organisers had used traditional fireworks like ‘Gundu’ and ‘Olappadakkam’ without any approval from PESO, Nagpur. Moreover, the organisers didn’t conduct any risk assessment by a reputed organisation to identify potential hazards arising from the fireworks.
