Why not ban gas balloons altogether?
We are horrified by the gruesome deaths of at least six children and severe injuries to around 20 others in a freakish gas cylinder explosion in Rupnagar. The gas cylinder burst when it was being used to inflate balloons for children. Explosive experts have said that many balloon sellers use faulty cylinders or leaked pipes which lead to such fatal accidents. But it is also because the balloon sellers often modify abandoned CNG, LPG or other types of gas cylinders and instead of helium, use materials to provide hydrogen gas to create the pressure. All this, according to experts, is illegal, yet the practice continues with little action from the authorities to stop it.
It is unacceptable that all that has been done is for the Department of Explosives to run advertisements in the newspapers to make people aware of the dangers of such practices. The balloon sellers and children who buy these balloons are all from impoverished backgrounds—how can they be expected to know about the dangers of inflating gas balloons from newspapers! Making such statements only point out to the callousness with which this issue has been treated by the concerned authorities leading to such terrible tragedies. The Department of Explosives and other public authorities have a responsibility to make sure that these cylinders are disposed of properly and not reused or modified in a way that may pose such grave danger. There has to be more effort and action to make people aware of the dangers of these balloons. Apart from social campaigning with the help of various media, a total ban on gas balloons is in order as there is little reason to believe that this practice will not go on in places where there will be little monitoring from authorities.
That a simple pleasure as getting a colourful balloon should turn into such a nightmare for those children who have died a painful death and the others who are suffering from critical injuries in hospital, is a disaster we must all make sure never happens again. The authorities must enforce the prohibition on reusing or modifying discarded gas cylinders that have the potential to cause such a mayhem.
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