Scores of sellers and users of explosives from across the state participated at the one-day workshop on ‘Ammonium Nitrate Rules (2012) and Explosives Rules (2008)’, organised by the Petroleum and Safety Organisation (PESO), held here on Tuesday. Chief Controller of Explosives T R Thomas who inaugurated the workshop expressed hope that the workshop would bring more users and sellers of explosives under the ambit of the laws.
“The Act is meant to prevent the misuse of explosives. Ammonium Nitrate is a declared explosive and any person in possession or use of this explosive needs a licence. Ammonium Nitrate licensed users in Kerala are very few, but the requirement is plenty. We expect an surge in the number of licences issued after the workshop,” he said.
The Central government, he said, is also devising a real time tracing and tracking programme for explosives, which may materialise within one or two years time.
Ernakulam Additional District Magistrate B Ramachandran, who was the chief guest, said the public should cooperate more with the authorities to enable the laws governing explosives.
“There are difficulties to implement explosive laws in Kerala. On the one side we have religious festivals like Maradu fireworks that use explosives in a massive scale, and when we try to monitor them it becomes a touchy topic,” he said.
T O Sasi, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives, Ernakulam, said his office has issued 74 selle r licence and 1,200 user licence until now and that most of these licensees are individual owners.