Not Tragedy But Crime: Spare us the red herrings, fix responsibility for Kollam temple disaster

What happened at the Puttingal Devi Temple at Paravur, Kollam – holding the nation aghast as it watched on television over the past few days – was not a tragedy. It was a crime. A crime of omission and negligence by various people and organisations that have left 111 people dead, and many more injured and fighting for their lives.

I have just visited the scene of the tragic deaths and injuries at the Puttingal Devi temple, and visible signs of negligence and criminal lapses were evident. No barriers were erected to protect the thousands who gathered to watch the fireworks, no safety norms observed for storing the fireworks, overcrowding was the norm.
There were countless instances pointing to serious lapses on the part of the organisers, and importantly, local administration officials and the police who were mute spectators to the events that led to the unfortunate and unprecedented loss of lives and suffering.

Even as people are coming to terms with the horrendous tragedy, attempts are being made to move the focus of the debate to an array of extraneous issues, including religion and ban on fireworks. Bans are a lazy approach to the problem. They duck the whole issue of responsibility of government in enforcing laws and safety guidelines.

The alacrity with which the Kerala government has started a discussion on fireworks is an obvious attempt to move the spotlight away from where it should be – that of negligence, responsibility and criminal lapse of the local administration. There are games being played and alibis being created, to get local officials off the hook.

Therefore, it is no surprise that chief minister Oommen Chandy too has suggested a ban on crackers, in the frantic hope that no one talks about local administration failures.

Fireworks are not a unique Indian phenomenon. Be it in Singapore, Dubai or New York – in fact the world over – spectacular fireworks are conducted while ensuring, at the same time, that safety norms are in place.

The suggestion from some quarters to ban fireworks, as a lesson learnt from the Kollam fire tragedy, is like saying that Kolkata’s flyover collapse should lead to a ban on all flyovers. Just like the flyover collapse in Kolkata, the Kollam tragedy too represents a failure of government agencies, arising out of the lack of enforcement of safety regulations and laws.

There are also attempts to escape accountability with government officials leaking documents that claim to have prohibited the fireworks display. But a closer examination of this order exposes its ambiguous wording – prohibiting only “competitive” fireworks and not all fireworks.

The role of local politicians needs examination. The Paravur police station is only a hundred metres or so from the scene of the fireworks. Therefore, the role of the police in this tragedy also needs to be investigated.

Notwithstanding every attempt to spin this as a violation by the organisers of the fireworks display (and it may well be that), the role and responsibility of local administration to deliver on safety and compliance with law is absolute and cannot be escaped. The whys and hows of non-compliance with the law need to be examined closely, and the guilty taken to task severely.

This remains the crux of the issue. Accountability and responsibility for the safety of citizens lies with the administration. If there has been an open defiance of laws and zero compliance to norms of public safety, something is seriously amiss and must be fixed.

The irony of this tragedy is that it is not the first in Kerala. More than 450 have been killed in the past even as thousands have been injured in the last three years, in similar incidents involving improper safety precautions and breaching of safety norms during fireworks displays in temples.

Weak compliance with laws, thanks to ineffective local administration, continues to create potential risks in every function of this kind. If we are serious about justice to the victims at Puttingal, we must ensure that this crime is impartially investigated.

A crime is what it is when hundreds of innocent victims lose life and limb due to no fault of theirs, except that of following their faith. The investigation must be impartial and expose the roles of local administration, police and the organisers. All are culpable. But more so the government agencies, who have a solemn responsibility towards the people and law.

The victims at Puttingal Devi temple died celebrating their faith. In their memory, we must ensure that those responsible are held to account – to deter future incidents like this.

Let us create a culture of accountability and law enforcement, in place of an elitist, impractical and downright silly discussion about banning fireworks!