Case 1: A 14-year-old boy admitted to the emergency of AIIMS will never be able to see again. Just a day before Diwali, he had gone to his friend’s house saying that he would meet him soon. Both his friend and he had ordered a potash gun from an online website. Both of them had planned to celebrate the festival by driving it. Could not buy firecrackers this year due to ban. Both wanted to make a reel and post it on social media. After reaching friend’s place, it was as if he blasted with a potash gun. The metal pipe of that gun burst and the child suffered severe burns on his face. He started screaming. Both his eyes were badly damaged due to the chemical, his family members were referred to AIIMS, after treatment here the doctors saved one eye, but the vision in the other eye was lost forever.
Case 2: The second case is of a 24-year-old youth from rural area of ​​Haryana. On the night of Diwali, he was preparing to fire the potash gun and was loading chemicals into it. Since these chemicals are very flammable and dangerous, there was a sudden explosion. In the explosion, the young man’s face was badly burnt and his eyes also suffered serious chemical injuries. Even after so many days of treatment, he can see very little in both his eyes, perhaps now he will have very little vision in both his eyes for the rest of his life.
These were those cases who reached AIIMS emergency, who fired potash gun in order to celebrate and the sorrow of their whole life was written on them. In our country, there is a different craze among the youth for making noise of crackers and fireworks during festivals or happy occasions. But, after the ban on firecrackers due to pollution in Delhi-NCR, the potash gun that replaced it caused a lot of destruction during Diwali. The explosion from this potash gun may be like firecrackers, but it has snatched away the happiness of many homes. Know from AIIMS doctor – how potash gun is becoming deadly?
Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) believe that deaths caused by potash guns are very painful. These guns are so dangerous that even after saving the life of the patient injured in it, he has to bear the brunt of disability. This year, during Diwali, many people used this gun extensively not only in Delhi but in the surrounding areas like Noida, Ghaziabad, Palwal, Mewat, Hapur and Greater Noida. Many patients who come to the emergency of AIIMS testify to this.
Dr. Brajesh Lahiri, ophthalmologist of AIIMS, says that on the night of Diwali this year, 10 patients, victims of potash gun accident, reached AIIMS Emergency in critical condition. Out of these 10, 6 patients developed bilateral blindness. To put it in simple language, six out of ten people lost their eyesight forever. Of these, four had unilateral blindness (single-sided blindness), which is called one-sided blindness. Due to the explosion of this gun, the wrists of two of these people were almost destroyed.
These emergency cases were so horrific that their faces and bodies were completely burnt. The team of doctors engaged in the treatment says that such bloody and deformed cases of burns have never been seen before. His condition was so bad that even the doctors were surprised. One part of his body was destroyed forever by the potash gun. The relatives of all these patients had confirmed the use of potash gun.
lost eyesight
Dr. Brajesh Lahiri told that for the first time he saw a case of 100 percent loss of eyesight. These incidents causing 100 percent blindness cannot be normal. They say that potash guns should be banned completely. There is also a need to make people aware about this.
Potash guns are also being sold online
Let us tell you that even on online websites, they are being sold under the names of potash gun, agricultural fire crackers etc. Anyone can order it at a price of Rs 700 to Rs 1300. There is a need to ban this also. Let us tell you that before Diwali in the year 2024, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had banned firecrackers till January 1, 2025. Due to this the prices of firecrackers also increased.
What is potash gun?
An iron rod is made in the shape of a gun. Its iron pipe is filled with mixed powder of sulfur and potash and then exploded. Actually it was made for the protection of fields. It has been used to scare wild animals and birds with the loud sound of the gun. In this case, due to the quality of the pipe not being fixed, a major accident occurs due to the pipe bursting at the time of explosion. Last year, doctors of Jodhpur AIIMS found in a study that sulfur powder contains sulfuric acid which reacts with potassium chlorate to form a highly reactive explosive substance.