At least eight people, including four children, died in an explosion on March 31, 2025 at a house in Patharpratima, South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, where fireworks were allegedly being manufactured and stored illegally. The incident was the latest in a series of deadly blasts that have plagued the state, despite repeated court orders and regulatory directives to curb illegal firework units.
Despite the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) directive in late 2015 to shut down all illegal firework manufacturing units, violations continued unchecked — so much so that 31 such explosions have occurred since 2016, claiming around 80 lives, according to data available with this correspondent. Activists blamed a sustained nexus between government officials and violators for the continuing deaths and accused authorities of turning a blind eye to the illegal industry.
In a letter dated April 1, Biswajit Mukherjee, former chief law officer of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), urged senior environment officials at both state and central levels to take immediate action. Mukherjee, known for his role in curbing noise pollution in the late 1990s and early 2000s, alleged that the state had become a “hotspot” of explosions due to “passive support” from officials and a “nexus between government machinery and environmental criminals”.
“Deaths due to explosions in unlicensed firework manufacturing units have become almost day-to-day affair,” Mukherjee wrote in the letter, which was also sent to the chairman of the Central Pollution Control Board, the director general of police in West Bengal and the state PCB Member Secretary. He indicated plans to move the Supreme Court for a nationwide crackdown on such illegal units, citing similar incidents in Gujarat.
In October 16, 2015, the eastern bench of the NGT directed state authorities to close all illegal cracker manufacturing units and submit an action-taken report. However, the administration seemingly failed to act. Mukherjee’s annexed list of incidents documents 39 explosions since 2009, resulting in at least 110 deaths.
In August 2023, a meeting chaired by the state’s chief secretary revealed that 5,556 firework units were operating across West Bengal, including those involved in manufacturing, storage and sales. According to the minutes of the meeting, only four units were licensed by the WBPCB to produce green crackers, as mandated by court orders. The vast majority were operating illegally, yet no enforcement action followed.
A senior police official admitted the Patharpratima unit lacked all necessary licences — including those for green cracker production, fire safety and trade. “It is not possible to search every household to identify such operations,” the officer said. A senior WBPCB official shifted responsibility to law enforcement agencies, saying, “We only provide technical support. It is the police who are the nodal authority for monitoring and enforcement.”
Activists rejected these explanations. “The administration already has a list of known violators, as discussed in the 2023 meeting,” said a spokesperson for Sabuj Mancha, a collective of green organisations in the state. “Inaction despite having this information points to complicity.” Sabuj Mancha had previously petitioned the court on the matter.
Mukherjee and other activists argue that the regulatory failure is not incidental, but systemic. “West Bengal was once a model for firework and noise pollution control, thanks to court orders led by the late Justice Bhagwati Prasad Banerjee,” said Mukherjee. “That legacy has been completely reversed.”
He accused the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation, WBPCB and state police of negligence, saying his organisation had repeatedly written to the Chief Controller of Explosives, demanding action. “Due to the apathy of regulatory bodies, unlicensed fireworks manufacturing has mushroomed across the state, leading to repeated tragedies.”
Activist Naba Dutta, secretary of Sabuj Mancha, also accused the government of institutional complicity. “The regulatory role of the pollution control board was neutralised by classifying fireworks as a ‘white category’ industry, which is considered non-polluting,” said Dutta. “This shifted the burden of approval to the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), which neither has the expertise nor mandate to oversee such operations.”
The push to create “firework clusters” had only enabled corruption and expanded the illegal business, Dutta added. “Nothing has been done on the ground apart from opening doors for corruption engineered by some unscrupulous firework businessmen,” he stated.