Reports emanating from various places reveal that explosives are kept in a very casual manner. In fact, before Petlawad, similar incidents were reported from many towns of the state. Media persons who visited Petlawad claim that this calamity could have been averted had the district administrative taken appropriate action in response to complaints made by the people living in the neighborhood of the blast site. But the district administration did not take people's complaints seriously.

The smuggling and trade of illegal explosives is a big problem in Madhya Pradesh.

For years, the state's law enforcing agencies, including police, have failed to stop the rampant smuggling of explosives which end up in the hands of illegal miners and farmers who use them for flattening hillsides and rocky lands for agricultural use.

The 2009 Singrauli blast is a classic case of the sordid manner in which government forgets such tragedies.

A magisterial inquiry into the 2009 Singrauli blast, which had also left a trail of blood, is far from being complete. The accused in the case too got anticipatory bail from the court right after the incident. At least 23 people were killed and 49 injured in the explosions that rocked two private factories manufacturing explosives for coal mining in the Waidhan town of Singrauli district.

The probe report of the Singrauli blast case has not been received till date, even though the inquiry was ordered by the chief minister, who has now ordered a judicial probe into Petlawad incident.

The high number of casualties at Petlawad has been attributed to explosion of a large number of gelatin sticks, a relatively stable explosive invented by Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel, stored at a warehouse close to a restaurant.

Many people said that gelatin sticks, locally known as 'totey' are the most commonly used explosives in the state due to their easy availability. Officials said contractors acquire them illegally for blasting hilly terrain to make way for roads and bridges; it is even used for catching fish in rivers and water bodies.

Explosives are easily available. And even a petty road-laying contractor uses it to blast big rocks or to widen roads.

Sources said that people involved in the illegal trade of explosives not only supply them in Madhya Pradesh but also to end-users in neighbouring states including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

According to a farmer, he gets one stick for Rs. 100 to Rs. 150.

Most of the gelatin sticks, smuggled to the state, originate at a government factory at Dholpur in neighbouring Rajasthan. While the consignments are meant for licensed users, police said that explosive-laden trucks disappear on way to the state, and are sold to smuggling gangs by drivers.

But what has remained a mystery is the police's failure to follow up the cases.
Police sources said that between January and August 2010, as many 163 trucks laden with explosives went missing in the state.

A police official BM Dwivedi, who had conducted an investigation into the missing trucks simply said, 'We couldn't make (any) recovery as the accused didn't tell us to whom they sold the explosives.'

An intelligence officer said illegal miners usually get the explosives directly from manufacturing companies with the connivance of licensed shop owners or by stealing them from mining companies.

In January last year, operatives of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were caught with a large cache of explosive including 900 gelatin sticks, 600 detonators and 12 bombs.

In February this year, the state anti-terrorist squad (ATS) had recovered detonators, gelatin sticks and gelatin powder from a house in Chhindwara district.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also arrested a youth from Rewa district in connection with the serial blasts in Patna during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public meeting in 2013. The youth had allegedly supplied explosives to the accused.

More than 100 people were killed and about 150 injured when a massive blast triggered by mining explosives ripped through a packed restaurant in Petlawad on September 12.

Witnesses first heard a small blast in a godown where gelatin sticks were stored just minutes before the powerful explosion tore through the store and the nearby restaurant, reducing these buildings to rubble and leaving dozens buried under the debris.

'There was a huge ball of dust around and I saw people lying on top of one another, many of them dead and some screaming with pain. There was blood, gore and body parts all lying in a 50-ft radius,' said SharmilaKataria, a local resident.

Police and government officials said the casualties were high because the blast occurred at around 8:30 am when many office workers and school children were having breakfast in the restaurant.

Cooking gas cylinders at the restaurant may have also burst, adding to the devastation.

A large number of labourers waiting at a crowded bus stop in close proximity were another reason for the high death toll.

Soon after the blast, bodies covered in dust and ash lay in the streets alongside the twisted wreckage of burned vehicles while television footage showed scores of people and rescue workers using their bare hands to shift mangled heaps of steel and concrete of the ruined buildings.

The place of the blast is the part of Jhabua Lok Sabha constituency which will soon go to polls. The bye-poll has been necessitated because of the death of BJP Lok Sabha member Dilip Singh Bhuria. Unless effective remedial measures are taken immediately the BJP may lose the seat.

That is why Chouhan has decided to chalk a detailed programme to assuage the anger of the peoples. He has decided to visit every family which has lost its dear ones and give them compensation amount personally and promise a job to one member of each affected family.(IPA Service)