Virudhunagar Firework Factory Tragedy: Madras High Court Raises Concerns On Recurring Accidents, Asks State To File Report On Prevention

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday (21 April) raised concerns about recurring fire accidents in the State and asked the government to file a report suggesting measures to prevent accidents at fireworks units. The direction was made by a bench of Justice N Sathish Kumar and Justice M Jothiraman in light of the recent fire tragedy that took place in the Virudhanagar district of Tamil Nadu on Sunday (19 April), where an explosion in a fireworks factory claimed 23 lives. A second explosion at the unit left 17 injured, including police and firefighters. As per reports, it is one of the deadliest fire accidents in Tamil Nadu in recent times. On Monday, Advocate R Karunanidhi had made a mention before the bench requesting it to take suo motu cognisance of the incident and issue immediate directions to the State. Karunanidhi submitted that despite a single judge's direction on compensation to victims of firework factory accidents, the State had not paid any compensation to the victims nor framed any insurance or rehabilitation scheme. The bench had then sought a reply from the State government. When the matter was again taken up on Tuesday (21 April), Additional Advocate General M Ajmal Khan informed the bench that a compensation of Rs 5 Lakh had been paid to the family of the victims who died in the tragedy. The bench, however, expressed concerns about repeated instances of fire accidents, noting that such accidents were occurring almost every month and most of the victims were women. The court added that when persons were engaged in such hazardous work, there should be adequate insurance of more than ₹25 Lakh. Noting that such accidents sometimes occurred due to the extreme hot climate, the court also suggested stopping the production of fireworks temporarily during the peak summer season. The court also allowed a delay condonation petition filed by the State, condoning a delay of 45 days in filing an appeal against an order of a single judge which issued a series of directions for payment of compensation to victims in such accidents in firework units. The matter has now been adjourned to June 8. Meanwhile, the court has also asked advocates involved in the issue to file suggestions to prevent such accidents.

Virudhunagar Firework Factory Tragedy: Madras High Court Raises Concerns On Recurring Accidents, Asks State To File Report On Prevention

Upasana Sajeev

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