The Hindu Business Line : Draft Explosive Rules have built-in safeguards

New Delhi May 18 The notified Draft Explosive Rules 2006 replacing the extant Explosive Rules 1983 have incorporated safeguard provisions for monitoring the manufacture, transport, handling and storage of explosives used in blasting rocks in quarries so as to ensure transparency in their transactions.

Official sources told Business Line here that 70 per cent of the explosives produced in the country are consumed in the coal sector with the balance being used in road construction, irrigation, cement industry and other mineral mining, including oil exploration.

Licences issued

The number of explosives licences issued for use in blasting rocks in quarries in the various States as on end-April 2007 is 6,078, with the highest number of licences going to Maharasthra at 1,041, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 741, Kerala at 714, Jharkhand at 461, Gujarat at 453, Orissa at 354, Madhya Pradesh at 323 and Tamil Nadu at 312.

The safeguards in the Draft Explosive Rules 2006 include issue of pass for transport of explosives by the consigner to the District Superintendent of Police from whose jurisdiction consignment is sent and also to the DSP in whose jurisdiction consignment is received, issue of mandatory photograph of the licencee or occupier for better accountability and transaction of explosives, and registration/mandating for checking of antecedents of transporters and end-users like blasters.

The guidelines prescribed in this regard, the sources said, enjoin that possession of an industrial licence subject to the regulation imposed by Explosive Rules should be made compulsory for setting up any explosive unit irrespective of its size and the number of persons employed in it. Small-scale units in this sector should be discouraged as mushrooming of manufacturing units spread over the different parts of the country might pose problems for their effective protection and supervision.

Expansion plans

On the issue of permitting expansion of the existing capacities for fuller utilisation of the extant facilities by the explosive manufacturing units, each case should be examined on merit before according the approval. The retailers should indicate address of purchasers on cash memos.

Where purchasers get bulk supplies, purpose of the use should be clearly indicated on the face of the cash memos. Besides, the sources said, the States have been asked to undertake thorough verification of antecedents of applicants seeking explosives-licences, scrupulously scan the titles of lands, where explosives are to be stored/used and take into account the security concerns while issuing manufacturing licences.

The States have been directed not to issue licences to blasting-contractors not holding mining licences. Regular inspections and scrutiny of records of licencees undertaken by the officers of the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation and district administration have ensured good compliance of the rules and regulations, the officials added.