New Delhi: According to latest data released by National Bomb Data Centre (NBDC), India stands third in the list of countries worst affected by bomb blasts last year.
The data states that India witnessed 190 IED explosions last year, following Pakistan which saw a maximum number of blasts in the world with 313 explosions and then Iraq which suffered 246 blasts.
Even Afghanistan is far behind India with only 129 blasts and Syria, which has seen so many battles in the past between ISIS, Kurdish Peshmargas and Nato forces saw only 32 blasts. The data is as stated by Times of India daily.
These five countries account for 85% of the total 1127 bomb explosions in the world last year.
As a matter of fact, this is a reduced number of explosions and casualties reported by India as compared to 2013 figures when it had 212 explosions and 99 casualties. This is at par with the trends across the world.
The matter of concern here is that in 92% of these explosions in India in 2014, high explosives were used recording an increase of four percentage points over 2013.
This is also an indicator of the ease with which the anti-national elements are able to get explosives and detonators here.
NSG chief JN Choudhury blamed it on 'less-than-satisfactory' control over sale and stocking of explosives and detonators. "All 190 blasts in India used electronic detonators. We see a ban on the sale of detonators desirable, but that's not possible. There needs to be some control on sale and secure storage and use of detonators," Choudhury said.
He added that when license of use of electronic detonators are given out by district magistrates, the end-use is not properly monitored.
Internally also there had been a drift in patterns of blasts. While Jammu and Kashmir was earlier considered to be one of the most dangerous areas, it saw a significant drop in the number of blasts falling by 30%. Similarly, Manipur saw a drop of around 45%.
On the other hand, areas which were not much vulnerable earlier like Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand witnessed a rise of 33% and 50% respectively in the number of explosions.
