Fatal fireworks, reckless silence

Two recent tragedies, one in Thrissur, Kerala, and another in Palghar district, Maharashtra, have once again exposed a grim and familiar truth: India continues to treat the manufacture and use of fireworks with a recklessness bordering on indifference.

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Fourteen lives lost in Kerala and two in Maharashtra are not mere statistics; they are reminders of a systemic failure that repeats itself with numbing regularity. Moreover, more than an equal number of people were seriously injured, with some losing body parts forever. In Thrissur, the accident occurred in an open paddy field where fireworks were being prepared for the famed Thrissur Pooram due on April 26. The explanation offered—that excessive heat triggered the blaze—only deepens concern. If something as predictable as the summer sun can ignite catastrophe, what does it say about the safety protocols in place? The fact that rescue efforts were hampered by secondary explosions suggests not only poor planning but also a dangerous concentration of volatile materials without adequate safeguards.