"A big mafia is at work here, making thousands of crore worth of profits. These are 'merchants of death' who are making profits by making people work in ghastly conditions," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, who visited the affected areas of Tamil Nadu yesterday, told reporters here.
Claiming that gun-powder and other materials from the cracker industry were making their way to those making country-made explosives, he said this could lead to "a serious security situation" and demanded a wide-ranging probe into the entire gamut of issues emerging out of the accident which has claimed 39 lives.
Among those killed in the fire accident were CPI(M)'s Branch Secretary Balakrishnan, while the party's Block Secretary Pandian suffered serious burns, Yechury said.
Observing that "pathetic conditions of work" prevailed in the entire cracker industry, the CPI(M) leader said both the Centre and state government should "take very serious note" and take strict action to ensure that all laws were implemented.
"12 to 16 people are made to work in a three-feet-by- three-feet cubicles and one small explosion leads to a chain effect. There is complete travesty of law here. Not a single law is being implemented," he said.
The CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement that such accidents have been recurring in Sivakasi and during the last twelve years, 237 persons have lost their lives in fires at 88 fire-cracker manufacturing units here.
"The callous attitude of the government and the enforcement authorities are to blame for these accidents," it said and sought strict enforcement of safety norms, stern action against the violators and compensation for the victims and their next of kin.
