VIRUDHUNAGAR: When Dr T Yokul (29) from Karaikudi lit a gadha-shaped novelty cracker that sprayed showers of sparks, he never thought it would backfire. Within seconds, his Deepavali celebration went awry. The firecracker exploded in his hand, leaving him with second-degree burns. This all happened while he was holding his five-year-old daughter in the other arm.
Hundreds of kilometres away, B Pavithra (28) from Krishnagiri and Suresh (38) from Villupuram suffered similar injuries when the guitar-shaped crackers they held suddenly burst. “I kept it at a safe distance, but as it started to burn, something about it seemed odd. It suddenly exploded in no time,” recalled Pavithra.
Their experiences mirror those of several others across the country who met with accidents while lighting these two trending novelty crackers during this Deepavali, if the videos shared on social media by the victims and their family members are anything to go by.
According to the victims, the crackers were either bought from local retail outlets sourcing their stock from traders linked to Sivakasi manufacturers or purchased directly from Sivakasi and its surrounding areas. The victims also said that the crackers appeared perfectly fine at the time of purchase, with no visible defects in their outer shells.
Some even pointed out that they were unable to verify the authenticity of the exploded crackers. When TNIE spoke to leading cracker manufacturers to understand the possible cause of the explosions, they explained that the working principle of these novelty crackers is simple as they are designed only to emit showers of sparks.
“The chemicals used such as bismuth, potassium nitrate and charcoal are all approved for production. However, improper filling, resulting in air gaps, errors in formulation, or sand fixing inside the novelty crackers could have triggered the mishaps,” a manufacturer said.
Meanwhile, the victims have urged the government to enforce stricter safety checks and mandatory testing for all newly launched cracker varieties, especially the novelty ones, as they are mainly used by children.
Sources from the revenue department said that DRO-licensed units lack laboratory facilities to test new crackers made with approved chemicals. Also, such testing is not mandated under existing rules and provisions, they added. Manufacturers also said that even PESO-licensed units do not have protocols for testing new crackers since they use only permitted chemicals. Officials assured that necessary steps would be taken to prevent such incidents in the future.
The Cracker Manufacturers Association alleged that owing to the high demand for these novelty crackers this season, several unlicensed and sub-leased units had produced these fireworks without proper research and development, or certified supervision. “These illegal units are purely profit-driven and sell their products through unauthorised channels with the help of certain dealers and transporters,” said T Kannan, general secretary of the Indian Fireworks Manufacturers Association. Strict measures must be taken to curb the practice and ensure public safety, he added.
