Gurdaspur: Cops go all out against firecracker hoarders

Ravi Dhaliwal

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Gurdaspur, September 28

On September 4, 2019, five blasts rocked Batala’s city centre. Word spread that some LPG cylinders had exploded. Thirty minutes later, 19 bodies (later, the toll increased to 23), a majority dismembered, were found scattered in a radius of 50 metres. Blood splattered limbs were seen all over the place. This was the aftermath of a high-end explosion that took place at an illegal firecracker storage unit in a thickly populated area.

A month later, the administration, under pressure from the kin, suspended two clerks. Nothing tangible came out of the magisterial probe that was subsequently ordered. Every detail of the incident had been allegedly swept under the carpet. In other words, the tragedy had been given a quiet burial.

For the next three years, nothing untoward happened in Batala. Officials had been working hard to ensure that repeat of 2019 does not takes place by raiding illegal cracker storerooms.

SSP Satinder Singh said the cops were conducting raids in populous areas. “We have formed special teams to identify storage dumps. Even FIRs are being registered against the offenders,” said the SSP.

SDM Shayari Bhandari said, “We are focusing on Qadian, a township infamous for hosting illegal cracker manufacturing units. We have to make sure that 2019 is not repeated.”

In Gurdaspur, the police have already registered three FIRs. Earlier, such offenders were booked under the comparatively lenient 188 IPC (disobeying government orders). This time, the stringent Explosive Substances Act, 1908, which talks of life imprisonment, has been used.