Kollam temple fire: Competition led to tragedy

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite a ban imposed on carrying out the usual competitive fireworks, the Puttingal temple authorities at Paravoor allegedly allowed a high-intensity firework almost like a competition. Loads of explosives were being brought to the temple around 1 am through the rear side of the temple to evade the attention of the authorities.

With the local people complaining against the fireworks competition, the district administration had denied permission for it. But allegedly after high-level intervention, the temple was allowed to conduct a normal firework display. However, local people suspect that it was indeed a competition of fireworks teams led by Kazhakoottam Surendran and Varkala Krishnana Kutty.

At 1 am crackers were sneaked in
The Puttingal temple authorities at Paravur allegedly allowed a high-intensity firework almost like a competition.

Some police officials who visited the spot also indicated that there were signs of a competition. Many people who were near the explosive storage room had witnessed truckloads of explosives being brought in even at 1 am. 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 Rs 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.