F
or Thumpala Lova, 38, the morning of February 28 was like any other, recalls her son Narendra. She woke up before dawn to devotional songs drifting from the 9th-century Kumara Bhimeswaraswamy temple on the outskirts of Vetlapalem village in Kakinada district, Andhra Pradesh. Trains rumbled along the tracks behind their house.
Within an hour, Lova had cooked lunch for herself and for Narendra, a 20-year-old construction worker. Wearing her favourite rose-coloured saree, she set out to work.
Vetlapalem explosion exposes unsafe conditions at firecracker manufacturing units
By 8 a.m., Narendra, who drove a two-wheeler, dropped her off near the irrigation canal that branches out from the Godavari river. Lova waded through the shallow waters to reach Sri Surya Fireworks, where she earned ₹450 a day. The construction site where Narendra worked was barely 100 metres from the firecracker unit. His wages contributed to keeping the family afloat.
