|
Explosives from 21,000 Indian
manufacturing facilities leaking to terrorists
WSN Network
NEW DELHI: At a
time when the United States is witnessing agencies like the TSA
ordering patting down of Sikhs' turbans ostensibly to check any
hidden explosives and young Americans are dying in Iraq and
Afghanistan trying to pre-empt any situation which can take a toll
on American lives, the country's energies could have been more
gainfully employed if it had kept a better eye on the way India
administers its explosive manufacturing facilities and store
houses.
It seems tons
and tons of explosives are being pilfered from Indian explosive
manufacturing facilities and the likelihood of much of this stuff
finding its way to terror capsules across the world is very high. In
the past, experts have often pointed out to the proclivity of the
police forces in India at
planting explosives and arms on innocent citizens and then killing
them in cold blood.
In a rather
explosive reportage, The Indian Express newspaper in India has
reported last Sunday about the kind of data the office of the Chief
Controller of Explosives in Nagpur is sitting on about the colossal
theft and diversion of explosives from the over 21,000 licensed
explosive manufacturers across the country.
In just two
years, 2004-2006, the stuff stolen includes 86,899 detonators,
20,150 kg of slurry explosives, 52,740 metres of detonating fuse and
419 kg of gelatin sticks besides huge quantities of explosive
cartridges and boosters. There is no record of what has landed in
whose hands and tracing back the arms used by terrorists anywhere in
the country or the world becomes an impossible task.
Even earlier,
the silence on the free diversion of substances like potassium
chlorate and ammonium nitrate, which used in conjunction with
sulphur and fuel oil acquire explosive proportions, has been
deafening. Explosive heists have been reported in Kolkata, Rourkela,
Vadodara, Bhopal and Vellore.
The Petroleum
and Explosives Safety Organization has said shortage of staff was a
reason why just about a fourth of the manufacturing units could be
inspected last year. It is surprising how a country can claim to be
part of the war on terror and remain so callous. India has so far
not even applied the IT sector digital technology in the
record-keeping of explosives.
10 October, 2007
|
Read Also