Odisha: 12 people arrested in connection to illegal fireworks

In a bid to curb illegal production and sale of the firecrackers ahead of the ‘festival of lights’ Diwali, Cuttack Police on Saturday, October 19, busted eight allegedly illegal firecracker manufacturing units in the Jagatpur area of the Cuttack district of Odisha and seized a large number of explosives. The seized haul of products reportedly included 25kg gun powder, 14kg pottas, 35kg metal black powder, 12kg aluminium dust, 15kg iron dust, around 10,000 packets of crackers and a large quantity of raw material to be used for making firecrackers.

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12 arrested in connection with illegal production units 

The Cuttack Police also arrested 12 people in connection with these illegal production units. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Cuttack, Akhileswar Singh stating the details of the raids, said “we formed eight police teams to conduct raids at different locations. During the raids, eight houses in Jagatpur police limits were detected where this illegal manufacturing was going on. We seized the raw material and arrested the accused". DCP Singh also said that further investigation is underway to ascertain from where the raw material was being supplied to these illegal units.

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Punjab CM ordered a state-wide crackdown 

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on September 6, ordered a state-wide crackdown on all illegal firecracker manufacturing units operating from residential and congested areas. He also directed the chief secretary and the Director-General of Police to take immediate steps for the closure of illegal firecracker manufacturing units and initiate precautionary measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future. Families of the victims have blamed the Gurdaspur district administration for failing to shut down the "illegal" unit despite repeated pleas.

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Prakash Javadekar urges people to use only green firecrackers 

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday in a press conference urged people to use only green firecrackers during Diwali and noted that the government has taken a 'historic initiative' for their production to reduce pollution. The press conference was kept to discuss various issues pertaining to the environment. "I would say do not burn firecrackers. I hope that children, students will tell their parents to not bring firecrackers," Javadekar told a press conference here. He further said if people wanted to use firecrackers as part of celebrations, they should use only green crackers instead of firecrackers.

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(with ANI inputs)