The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday directed the Chairperson of the Virudhunagar District Legal Services Authority to convene a meeting with officials from various departments to take effective steps to regulate the functioning of fireworks units in Virudhunagar district, in order to prevent accidents at the units.
A Division Bench of Justices C.V. Karthikeyan and R. Sakthivel was hearing a batch of petitions pertaining to the fireworks accidents in Virudhunagar district, including a public interest litigation petition that sought a direction to the State to set up Tamil Nadu Fireworks Corporation in order to oversee and regulate the fireworks industry. The petition had sought a direction to the authorities to implement a comprehensive policy to prevent recurring fire accidents and illegal production of fireworks.
The court said it was conscious of the fact that there were competent authorities in various departments monitoring the fireworks units. However, accidents continued to take place in the fireworks units. The officials were taking steps to ensure safety measures and conducting sensitisation programmes. “We would impress upon the officials to put in place a better system to effectively regulate the functioning of the fireworks units,” the court said.
The court directed the DLSA Chairperson to convene a meeting with the Home Secretary, Labour Secretary, Director of Industrial Safety and Health, Deputy Chief Controller of Explosives of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, Virudhunagar Collector, Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police, and Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Amorces Manufacturers Association in the first week of August.
The DLSA Chairperson prior to conducting the meeting should invite suggestions from all authorities to prepare an agenda to form an opinion on the nature of issues involved. The officials should come up with an effective system to regulate the fireworks units to prevent accidents, the court directed.
The court directed the DLSA Chairperson to submit a report on the meeting and adjourned the hearing till August 17.
