Another blast, lives lost: PESO, govt indulge in shadow boxing

Nagpur: The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) was requested by state govt agencies last year to monitor units that may technically not come under its ambit, but were engaged in making explosives. This followed the blast at Chamundi Explosives, a firecracker wicks manufacturing company, that left nine dead in June 2024.
PESO is the country's apex regulator of the explosives industry with its head office in Nagpur. There was no response from the central agency, say sources in the state govt, but PESO officials requesting anonymity denied having received any such communication.
Asian Fireworks, where a blast last week killed two workers, is not under PESO's ambit. Any unit which does not handle more than 15kg of explosives at any given point, need not register with the agency and can bag a licence from the district collectorate. There is another firm manufacturing firecracker wicks operational in Nagpur, but is not covered under PESO due to the 15kg norm.
After the Chamundi accident in June 2024, the govt hammered out a rule that the explosives sector, irrespective of the size, should be managed by a technical agency like PESO. But officials in the agency maintained that Asian Fireworks is not their responsibility and claimed they had received no request to extend coverage to small units.
Last week's accident once again raised the question whether a specialised agency should monitor the industry irrespective of scale of operations. However, Chamundi Explosives was already covered under PESO due to its larger scale of operations and had a much graver accident.
Currently, units like Asian Fireworks come under the department of industrial safety and health (DISH), a state labour department agency. However, explosives is a specialised industry, and there is PESO headquarters in Nagpur. Many aspects like chemical contents, distance between equipment, and other safety measures can only be monitored by PESO. This led to a proposal to involve PESO in the monitoring activity, said a source in state govt.
Even routine inspections by the state govt agencies like DISH only happen on a random basis. A portal — Central Inspection System (CIS) was created around four years ago. All state govt enforcing agencies, including DISH, are linked with it. Inspections are only carried out by a respective agency after an allotment comes through CIS, said a source. No independent inspection based on suspicion or any other input except a formal complaint can be carried out, a source said.
Asian Fireworks premises were only inspected by DISH after a special drive was initiated following the Chamundi blast. The unit was issued a closure order in July after some major irregularities were found. It could only restart operations after taking corrective measures. However, only partial compliance was done, and the operations continued, a source said.
DISH also does not have powers to physically stop a unit's operations. Some of the other agencies can simply cut off the power supply, bringing the work to a halt, a source said.