Pb CM orders state-wide crackdown on illegal firecracker production units

Two days after 23 people were killed in a blast at a firecracker factory here, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered a state-wide crackdown on all illegal firecracker manufacturing units operating from residential and congested areas.

He also directed the chief secretary and the director general of police to take immediate steps for the closure of illegal firecracker manufacturing units and initiate precautionary measures to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future.

Families of the victims have blamed the Gurdaspur district administration for failing to shut down the "illegal" unit despite repeated pleas.

After visiting the blast site and meeting some of the victims in hospital, the chief minister told reporters, "I can assure you that I will set up a committee headed by the chief secretary and the director general of police to carry out inspections across Punjab to find such factories and we will shut them down. We will not allow these to carry on."