By Kevin M. Mathewson

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DEHUI, China –Eleven local Chinese officials have been detained as a result of a June 3^rd fire at a poultry plant in China’s Jilin province that left 121 people dead and dozens of others injured. Investigators said an electrical short circuit ignited materials at the plant, causing the blaze which spread rapidly.

Those detained include the head of Dehui’s Mishazi township and the former head of the local construction bureau. Several fire department officials were also among those apprehended.

“Some of the suspects… falsified information to hide the facts that no serious fire safety inspections had been conducted and that proper fire safety equipment was not in place.” said the Xinhua news agency, citing the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

The poultry plant fire is China’s deadliest fire since 2000, when 309 people died in a blaze in a dance hall in Luoyang, in Henan province.

The deadly blaze has raised safety concerns after it has been suspected that local authorities are focusing on boosting economic development and ignoring workplace safety regulations.

Workers who escaped the fire at the Jilin plant said that the building’s narrow hallways made it difficult to reach the exits. It was also reported by local media that people struggled to escape because some exits were blocked.

The poultry plant is far away from chief regulators in China’s capital, making the plant’s operations difficult to oversee. “It is harder to regulate smaller companies in smaller cities and towns.” said Zhao Zhengbring, a lawyer working on health and safety issues with Beijing’s Haowei law firm.

In an effort to address these problems, China’s Communist leaders have created several competing industrial safety organizations. These efforts have had some positive results. Workplace accidents have dropped more than 33% in the past five years and the death toll from those accidents have dropped more than 29%, according to comments made by China’s then Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang.

Yet, fire accidents at construction sites and agricultural production factories are on the rise. Critics argue that factory managers are rarely punished for workplace accidents.

“Safety, unfortunately, still comes second to productivity and profits. There are, unfortunately, deaths at coal mines and factories pretty much every day, but no-one pays attention when it is one or two people.” Says Geoggrey Crothall, a spokesman for the Hong Kong based China Labour Bulletin.

Without public pressure, it is unlikely that significant changes will be implemented anytime soon.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Officials held over deadly China poultry fire – 5 July 2013

BBC News – China poultry plant fire raises safety standards concerns – 3 June 2013

BBC News – Dehui poultry plant fire: Locked exits ‘blocked escape’ – 3 June 2013

BBC News – In pictures: China factory fire – 3 June 2013

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NEW DELHI, India– A series of blasts tore through the Mahabodhi  Temple, in the Bodhgaya district of India’s Bihar State this morning. The temple is one of India’s most revered sites, where Buddha himself first gained enlightenment, and attracts thousands of pilgrims daily. Reports thus far indicate that only two people were injured from the blasts.

Union Home Secretary, Anil Goswami, confirmed that the blasts were a terror attack. Bihar Police suspect the involvement of the Indian Mujahideen in the blasts. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar condemned the attack at the temple and demanded the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) be deployed to protect the famous Buddhist shrine.

“The serial blasts deserve strongest condemnation in strongest possible words as the perpetrators targeted the place of religious faith of crores of people with an aim to create fear among them,” he told reporters after inspecting the blast sites at the Mahabodhi Temple.

According to Gaya Police, the blasts occurred in quick succession between 5.30am and 6:00am in the temple complex  near the Mahabodhi tree. One of the blasts erupted under the  tree causing partial damage to the Buddha footprints in the shrine. Four blasts occurred inside the shrine, while another three blasts took place in the Tregar monastery area. Blasts also occurred near the great Buddha statue and a bus parked on the Sujata bypass. Arvind Singh, a member of Mahabodhi Temple Management Committee reported that two other bombs, one found near the massive Buddha statue and one at a bus stand were safely defused.

The Secretary of the Bodh Gaya Committee Dorji said, “There were four blasts inside the temple premises. Fortunately, there was no damage to the Bodhi Tree or the main temple structure. In the first blast which took place near the Bodhi tree, a table was blown up because of which two persons were injured. The second blast, I think, was inside the enclosure where books were kept. The furniture was damaged but there was no damage to the monuments or statues.”

Police have since sealed access to the temple, permitting only temple personnel and investigators access the premises. The daily prayers will continue as scheduled, though no members of the general public will be permitted to enter for some time.

The bombs were described as “low intensity” by police, and Indian security personnel have indicated that they had suspicions of an imminent attack at the temple. S K Bahardwaj, ADG, reported “We got information about six-seven months back that there may be a terror attack on the Mahabodhi temple. After that we had beefed up security and deployed extra forces”.

Generally the temple is guarded by minimal security personnel, with a pair of officers stationed at the entrance, and a handful of private security officers patrolling inside the shrine. At this time, no deaths have been reported.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly condemned the blasts, saying “Such attacks on religious places will be never be tolerated.”

For more information, please see:

Times of India — Terror strikes Bodh Gaya, serial blasts rock Mahabodhi Temple — 7 July 2013

NDTV — Bodhgaya: Eight blasts in Mahabodhi temple; two injured — 7 July 2013

Times of India — Prayers continue at Mahabodhi Temple, visitors barred for now — 7 July 2013

New York Times — Bomb Blasts at India’s Buddhis Mecca in Bihar — 7 July 2013

BBC — Blasts at Indian Buddhist shrines of Bodhgaya in Bihar — 7 July 2013