Khaleej Times
S
toring firecrackers in godowns close to the display area is a recipe for disaster. But that didn’t deter some officials who bent the rules and put the safety of people in the vicinity of an Indian temple in peril. Warnings and complaints were not heeded by those who wanted to have a blast at a religious celebration. So what began as a joyous night ended in a dawn of death.
The toll will haunt the Indian state of Kerala and the world for a long time. Families of the victims will grieve till their tears run dry. Condolences will be paid and things will return to their old ways when people will be back to playing with fire. The same old tragedies will return because few will be held accountable. Safety violations are the norm in India, and when it comes to places of worship they are deemed ‘sensitive” communal issues, even if people have to die as greed gets the better of organisers who feast on the festivities and the money that is burnt on them.
Last heard, officials of the Puttingal Devi temple have slipped away, blood on their hands; hundreds of victims’ families left in ruins. When the culprits are brought to justice (if they indeed are), they will raise the communal bogey, ‘a conspiracy’, they will claim, when it’s plain corruption and illegality that brought things to this pass.
Will they learn from this tragedy? Nine fire accidents (we’ll call them callous crimes) in the state before this have not taught organisers of religious festivals in Kerala any lessons. That’s not accounting for the many stampedes at community gatherings across the country that have killed thousands.Dangers lurk when people congregate in large numbers. Safety measures are woefully inadequate, or poorly implemented by officials. Indian PM Narendra Modi himself visited the site of the tragedy and is directing rescue efforts. He would do well to ensure more such deaths do not happen by giving more teeth to existing fire safety laws. Political will and sensitivity on the part of people are important to prevent such disasters.
