Sivakasi tragedy not just about safety, but about lawlessness

The Sivakasi tragedy on Wednesday, that so far has claimed the lives of 39 people and critically injured at least 40, has already evoked the routine responses that the country is adept at: expressions of grief, solatium, arrests and orders for probe.

Nothing much is likely to change in the circumstances that led to the accident. If the state had learned from past accidents, the ghastly incident in 2010, when seven state government officials died in a fire while they were raiding a warehouse in Sivakasi, should have cleaned up the system for ever.

But it didn’t. The families of the officials received a “solatium” and the accidents continued to happen next year (2011) as well. Accidents peak in August, ahead of the Diwali season and perhaps this time, it arrived late.

It’s universal knowledge that fireworks are inherently dangerous and the only way to be safe is to stop making them altogether or put in the best safety and prevention efforts. Such accidents happen all over the world, but not with the predictability, frequency and scale that is seen in India.

The fireball that raged in Sivakasi highlights two major failures: the overall lawlessness of the country that seriously threatens the safety of its citizens every day, and the inability of the central and state governments to convert homegrown strengths into modern industrial assets.

If there was absolute rule of law, given that explosive chemicals do not allow any margin of error, and active State intervention, there would have been fewer accidents and Sivakasi might have rivalled Liu Yang in China, the fireworks capital of the world.

Sadly, Sivakasi’s origins can be traced to Chinese fireworks and Liu Yang; but the latter has gone miles ahead to command most of the global market and adhere to better safety standards, while the former continues to be a poor municipal tinderbox.

Not that Chinese fireworks industries are insulated from accidents. In June this year, 14 people had died in two accidents, and Chinese consignments had been detained in overseas markets for safety reasons. But the central and provincial governments there are constantly trying to improve the regulatory systems and infrastructure to prevent human errors and calamities. The number of accidents have come down drastically compared to early 2000’s.

In India, the Sivakasi incident should not be seen in isolation, but as part of the overall lawlessness. It’s not about the government departments or acts that govern them; but how callously they are observed , as in the case of other laws.

Raids and closures don’t help. If they did, this incident shouldn’t have happened. According to a report by the Hindu , a large number of units in Sivakasi had been closed down and punitive action taken against many last year. The unit that caught fire was reportedly sealed the previous day of the accident, but it still stored fireworks and the raw materials in a warehouse leading to the inferno.

It is simplistic to say that the safety laws in India are good, but not their implementation.

In the pervasive lawless atmosphere, the incentives to breach law are too high compared to the punishment. The Sivakasi industry thrives on traditional knowledge and poor wages and safety are often shortcuts to profits.

Over the years, Liu Yang has cleaned up their act a lot, even while keeping its competitiveness. Basic safety measures such as keeping different units of production separated from each other, the way units are constructed, safety training and better gear for the workers and constant scrutiny haven’t affected its bottom line. Chinese fireworks are still cheap.

With the present infrastructure in Sivakasi and the way the fireworks manufacture is undertaken there, it can never be safe from accidents. The officials may be right to point out that the accidents have certainly come down, and that some units haven’t had an incident in decades; but it still doesn’t offer foolproof safety.

It is really baffling how some units in a cluster violate safety standards risking others, and how it escapes the scrutiny of officials from at least six government departments when everybody is at risk.

The raids last year, that didn’t prevent the disaster on Wednesday, were done at the instance of the people in the area. People were concerned and vigilant, but it was not sufficient.

An absolute clean-up is the only solution. It can happen only if the government directly gets involved in the modernisation of the industry with unfailing attention to safety standards and the welfare of the workers. As in an industrial estate, the government should create an infrastructure, that has an uniform safety and employee welfare standard, in partnership with the industry. The quest should be to rival Liu Yang with brand Sivakasi. The rest will fall in place.

The cracker manufacturers in Sivakasi do know about Liu Yang and their superior edge in fireworks. In fact some of them had even hired Chinese experts to help them out with technology and better products. According to a 2009 Economic Times report , some of the fireworks companies here have even tied up with Chinese companies for outsourcing as well as transfer of technology. Standard Fireworks, the market leader, reportedly has manufacturing units in China.

Besides accounting for 90% of India’s fireworks manufacture, Sivakasi is also the capital of offset printing industry, that gave the now familiar calendar-faces to Indian gods and goddesses, and manufacture of “safety matches”. Almost all households in the town are employed in one of the three industries, which together are among the highest tax payers to the government. The least the government could do is to ensure safety of its people.

But to reach there, one has to look and work deeper. The problem of lawlessness. The primary reason for man-made disasters like that in Sivakasi is lawlessness.