Says the company’s general manager R Subba Rao: “We send a report on the quantity and number of consignments dispatched from the factory every month to the Circle Inspector of the area. We supply only to purchasers who have a license issued by the government. Once the trucks leave our premises, it is not our concern what happens to them. It is not our business anymore. The onus is on the purchaser to keep track of it.”

Asked about the fact that the company’s markings were found in the Gujarat blasts, Rao said: “The company’s owners are of the opinion that they supply detonators to distributors or dealers across the country. These detonators only initiate an explosion, they are not explosives in themselves. Once the distributors buy from the company, what they do or to whom they sell afterwards or what happens next is not the company’s responsibility.”

So what are the checks and safeguards? Does the company maintain a record of proof of delivery to the consignees? “No. When we receive an order or an invoice, we simply send the quantity specified by the purchaser. We only make sure he has a license. There is no need for proof of delivery since we send the monthly report to the local police,” general manager Rao says. Have there been any complaints of theft en route? “There have been no complaints in the last ten years,” Rao says.

However, Rao is hard put to explain the seizure of four boxes containing detonators manufactured by the company from a truck in January this year. The detonators were seized by Mothkur police under Bhongir division of Warangal during a routine checking. According to police, the truck driver was not carrying any invoice or valid papers pertaining to purchase or sale of the consignment.

... contd.