On May 27, 2023, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee visited Egra in east Midnapore, where 11 people lost their lives in an explosion at an illegal fireworks unit, and promised action against such units. She also asked locals to inform the police if they came across any such illegal unit operating in their area.
On January 10, 2026, another blast at an illegal fireworks unit occurred in Champahati in South 24 Parghanas, where so far three persons have died from the blast.
Between May 2023 and January 2026, 15 such blasts occurred in Bengal, killing 37 people, including children, and injuring many. Incidentally, the chief minister’s commitment to setting up fireworks manufacturing clusters to avoid such disasters also remains on paper. Not a single fireworks manufacturing cluster has been set up in the state so far.
“From 2009 to recent time, more than 120 people have died and many were injured due to blasts in illegally run fireworks units in West Bengal. I consider this no less than the murder of innocent, mostly poor, people abetted by administrative failures,” observed Biswajit Mukherjee, an environment activist and retired chief law officer of West Bengal Pollution Control Board, on Tuesday afternoon.
Hand in glove
“Death due to the explosion in the unlicensed fireworks manufacturing units in the State of West Bengal is almost a day-to-day affair. West Bengal is now a hotspot in respect of unlicensed firework explosion cases and … (such) incidents are going on with the passive support of the government and due to the nexus between the government machinery and environmental criminals, who are engaged in manufacturing illegal fireworks,” wrote Mukherjee in his latest letter on the matter, on behalf of nonprofit Paribesh Academy, addressed to senior environmental officials in both state and Union government departments and agencies as well as the police and district administration. A copy of the letter is with The Plurals.
“It is also observed by the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT) that unlicensed fireworks manufacturing units are the main source of manufacturing crude man-killing bombs,” the letter added.
“This is probably the fifteenth time I am writing letters to the senior officials of both the Union and state government urging them to take actions against these environmental criminals, but they keep on shuttle-cocking those from one table to other with virtually no action on ground,” alleged the former state pollution control board law officer.
Court actions decelerated
The activist claimed that judicial actions have slowed down over the years and the trend is further affecting the situation. “The environmental movement within both the country and state had immensely benefited by the series of judicial pronouncements since mid-80s, but the trend has changed for the worse,” said Mukherjee.
The list is long.
According to the activist, in 2012, a case related to the compensation to victims from the fireworks blast was filed by him in Calcutta High Court, which is still pending. In relation to another case in 2015, filed at NGT, the bench directed the closure of all illegal firework units running in the state and asked the state police and the pollution control board to take actions. Nothing happened.
“Subsequently I again filed a case in NGT in 2023 stating that no actions were taken in compliance of its earlier order about illegal firework units, but till now nothing has happened,” said Mukherjee, who claimed that the
Public Trust Doctrine has also been violated.
The doctrine is a legal principle that holds that the government should act as a trustee, safeguarding essential natural resources like air, water, forests, and wildlife for the benefit of the general public, for the present and future; and prevents these vital resources from being privatised or exploited for exclusive private gain, ensuring public access and sustainable use.
The Plurals has found that several other fireworks related cases, filed by a number of nonprofits or green platforms, are also pending in various judicial forums.