Municipal Corporation teams conduct raids, seize illegal firecrackers in Abohar

While holders of provisional licences were authorised by the district administration to begin selling firecrackers/fireworks on October 28 from 10 am, a few people have been doing so for the past three-four days, especially at night. Amidst these reports, raids were conducted by a team of the Municipal Corporation last night that caught a large cache of firecrackers in residential areas and took the same into possession.

Acting on a tip-off, the MC team led by Chief Sanitary Inspector Jaswinder Singh and inspector Kartar Singh, raided four places in the town and recovered a huge cache of illegally stored firecrackers. The corporation team has taken possession of these firecrackers and is preparing to take action. As today was a holiday, further action is expected to be taken on Monday on the orders of the Deputy Commissioner, who holds additional charge of the MC Commissioner.

Team members said they had received information regarding some people hiding explosive firecrackers in residential areas here. The team raided two places near the old octroi-post on the Fazilka road, one house each in the Nai Abadi and Patel Park area and recovered a huge stack of firecrackers. The same was taken into custody by the team and police action was awaited. There were no safety arrangements in the areas where these firecrackers were seized from. An explosion could have caused a human tragedy.

The district administration had called applications earlier to issue provisional licences for the sale of fireworks/firecrackers. Officials confirmed that 1,621 applications were received for 25 licences in Abohar, 484 for 18 in Fazilka, 258 for six licences in Arniwala and 243 for 18 in Jalalabad. Licences were issued on the basis of a draw of lots and the process was taped.

People recall that Abohar had, in the past, been in violation of the time schedule set for bursting crackers that was fixed for Diwali day from 8 pm to 10 pm but firecrackers/fireworks, including the deafening sound of locally made ones, were used prior to the day of Diwali and later, too. The number of fire casualties here has also been higher than other parts in Fazilka district in the past.