A potter makes earthen lamps at Godhar in Dhanbad (Bhola Prasad and Shabbir Hussain)

After a gap of one Diwali, cracker manufacturers of the infamous Kumardubi village in Baharagora’s Barsole, East Singhbhum, some 100km from the steel city, are apparently back to playing with fire.

Kumardubi hit the headlines in September 2017 when nine persons, including three women, were blown up when an illegal firecracker unit caught fire. The police arrested a dozen persons then, but now, of the 12, 11 are out on bail. Only Durga Santra, 30, whose mother was one of the victims, is lodged in Ghatshila sub-jail.

What the police had discovered in the light of the September 2017 tragedy was that many homes in Kumardubi converted themselves into makeshift and unlicensed firecracker manufacturing units around Diwali, and supplied crackers to small markets on Jamshedpur’s periphery, and small townships such as Ghatshila and Jadugora till Diwali, Chhath and the winter marriage season.

In 2018, the village decided to maintain a low profile and not make crackers on the sly.

This year, local sources claim that people of Kumardubi are once again buying gunpowder from Bengal and Jamshedpur’s Jugsalai wholesale hub. But now, adjoining villages such as Patpur and Jarkhuli are the main hubs of action.

A teacher and a resident of Baharagora, who spoke to this correspondent on Sunday, said those who had been scared to make crackers illegally last year are no longer so. “They sat idle last year, this year they are back making crackers illegally,” he said, adding he came to know from many youngsters who were his students. “It is all hush-hush,” he said. “But it is definitely happening. No one wants to fall foul of them (cracker manufacturers) or entangle themselves with the police, so no one is speaking up.”

A source in Kumardubi, who again requested his privacy be respected, said: “Cracker manufacturers are maintaining utmost secrecy. People have not forgotten the tragedy at Kumardubi so crackers are now mostly made at nearby Patpur and Jarkhuli villages.” Manufacturers are maintaining safety aspects and also maintaining utmost secrecy for evading the police action,” said the source requesting anonymity.

Barsole police station OC Rakesh Kumar claimed they had warned the residents of Kumardubi not to engage themselves in unauthorised cracker manufacture. “No one in Kumardubi has the licence to manufacture crackers, but residents made crackers since ages. But keeping in view the 2017 fire mishap, I have warned residents time and again not to take part in the illegal business.”