Illegal cracker-making units threaten residential colonies

Jaipur: Every year ahead of Dussehra and Diwali, accidents in illegal firecracker manufacturing units situated in residential colonies take place. It appears that neither police nor the district administration is serious enough to have a crackdown on this unorganised sector.

Be it places like Deeg in Bharatpur or Kishangarh near Ajmer similar factories are running without licences and the administrations concerned have turned a blind eye and an accident similar to recent one in Sikar in which two minor girls of a family were killed are going to happen.

"Most of these factories function for a limited period in rented accommodation, so it is difficult to just get into these residential houses. Thus, we have asked the beat constables to strengthen the tenant verification system," said a senior police officer of Bharatpur district.

In 2008, at least 22 people working in an illegal factory of firecrackers were killed in Deeg town in Bharatpur when the unit caught fire. During then, the district administration was asked to make teams for a crackdown on these units, still nothing much was done.

Majority of these factories run without any valid licences and they are rarely identified and administrations crack a whip on these factories. In Rajasthan, one can find these factories in Badi and Baseri of Dholpur and some places in Bharatpur district.