A fireball and deafening sound: Chief broadcast journo

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The politicians are responsible for the massive fireworks tragedy that struck the Puttingal temple in his neighbourhood, according to  S. Lallu, one of the lucky ones to survive the disaster.  It was they who  granted  permission to hold the fireworks at the  last minute against the order of  district collector A. Shainamol, according to Lallu,  chief broadcast journalist with Asianet News hailing from Paravur.  He says it’s a re-birth for him as one of his friends, Venu had pleaded with him and their friends to come and sit on his terrace from the place where they at first sat to watch the fireworks.

Lallu, 35, was looking forward to attending the final day of the seven-day-long festival at Puttingal temple, with a 200-year history.  Lallu recalled that he along with his friends first sat near the vantage point near the temple as in the previous years, which was some 150 metres away from the accident spot. But his friend Venu persuaded them to come and sit atop his terrace.  Otherwise, it would have been a different story for them.

“At first, I didn’t understand that tragedy had struck as along with a fireball there was a deafening sound. Immediately, the power went off and we heard the  screams. We didn’t know what to do as we realized that electric lines had fallen,”  said a grief-stricken Lallu, who is also the anchor of Chithram Vichitram, a popular satire programme.

Soon  fire engines came and splashed water.  Lallu and his friends came down and could see only dead bodies all over the place where they had first sat, and most of them were  dismembered.  Several local buses carried the injured to the nearby hospitals.

“More than the locals who had thronged the temple to watch the fireworks, it was visitors from neighbouring areas who were killed. Several homes within one-and-a- half-km area have developed cracks, and several wells have caved  in.   NRIs who don’t come to Paravur to spend the Onam holidays  visit here during the annual Puttingal temple festival,” added Lallu.

It is the four Nair karas - Kongal, Pozhikara, Koonayil and Kurumandal- who have been organising the seven-day  festival after they filed a case against the local SNDP leadership in the Supreme Court.   Lallu says he never expected such a mammoth tragedy to occur in his hometown which is otherwise a sleepy town.

The tragic route

February 23
Puttingal Devi temple devaswom managing committee secretary J. Krishnankutty Pillai submits an application requesting permission for conducting competitive fireworks to Kollam district collector.

March 26
Kollam Tahsildar submits a report that the applicant has not procured permission from as many as 11 houses staying within 60 meters from the spot of fireworks. It recommends permission to conduct the firework on a limited scale, and not competitive one. Assistant divisional fire officer also submits a report recommending conditional permission for limited fireworks.

April 1
Pankajakshi Anandan, residing nearby the temple, petitions the district collector saying her house is situated within 25 meters from the temple and that it gets damaged every year thanks to the fireworks. She later said the temple authorities threatened her using goons as she had filed complaint against the fireworks.

April 6
Kollam Tahsildar submits another report after investigating the complaints by pankajakshi Anandan saying that many local residents had complaints about the competitive fireworks though only Ms Anandan gave it in writing. The report concurred with the complaint band said the fireworks caused damages to houses, electronic equipment and was a hazard for patients in the area and
said only a permission for limited fireworks be given.

April 6
Report by the District Police Chief points out that the temple authorities had concealed the fact that they had made agreements with two firework contractors indicating the intention to competitive fireworks. The report recommends denial of permission as it would use more than 12 kilograms of explosives as mentioned in the request.

April 8
District collector issues an order declining permission for fireworks. It said if the temple management committee met all the guidelines and will not go in for competitive fireworks, then its application may be considered in the future

April 9
The fireworks begins at 10 pm, and goes on till 3.30 when the tragedy occurred. By then, 75 per cent of the show was over.

Explosives brought after stocks exhausted

It is suspected that since the storage of large quantity of explosives was  not allowed, explosives were being brought in as the existing stocks exhausted. “We were sitting near the explosives room and on seeing more  explosives being taken  in, we left the place by around 1 am”, said Kottiyam native Kishore Kumar.

Bhootakulam native Premkumar, an autorickshaw driver,  also said that explosives were being refilled at the storage room. The temple notice also mentioned that it was a competition and even prize money  up to '1 lakh was declared.

There are two explosives storage rooms on the temple premises, one on the right side and the other on the left. Usually, one storage room would be allowed to one firework team and the other  to the competitor. However, this time owing to the ban on the competition, the storage room on the right side was only used for storing the explosives.  The mike announcements regarding the competition also did not mention about the competition.