ROURKELA: Sundargarh district administration and Rourkela Police have beefed up measures to ensure implementation of fire safety guidelines ahead of Diwali. This year, six vending zones have been set up for sale of fire crackers in the Steel City.Rourkela SP Uma Shankar Dash said all police stations have been instructed to strictly implement guidelines issued by the Director General of Police for implementation of the Supreme Court’s order on the use of firecrackers during Diwali. Police have already started checking different places for illegal storage or sale of fire crackers.
The Collector has allowed sale of crackers at six places including Sector-13 ground, Koel Nagar, Balughat and Birsa Munda stadium by authorised vendors. This year, permission was not given to sell crackers at Power House Road area. Vendors have been asked to make necessary arrangements including storage of water and sand and keep distance between shops to prevent fire mishap.
The SP informed that on the day of Diwali, cracker bursting would be allowed for two hours between 8 pm and 10 pm and added that police patrolling would be intensified to take violators of guidelines to task.
In the past, fire mishaps during Diwali had resulted in widespread damage and loss of life. On October 18, 2017, a massive fire had gutted 46 makeshift fire crackers shops and 18 motorcycles at the cracker vending zone near Power House Road. The mishap had claimed one life and property loss was pegged at over `1.5 crore.
On September 17 this year, a massive explosion occurred in the house of businessman Jawahar Srivastava at Telugupada under Madhusudanpali slum here. Explosive substances were illegally stored in the house for manufacturing fire crackers. Jawahar’s two daughters-in-law had died and the concrete roof was ripped apart with debris damaging 30 adjoining asbestos-roof houses in the incident. Later, Jawahar and his two sons were arrested.