The owner of the gas-refilling unit in Immadihalli in Whitefield has been booked for endangering life and property and making the atmosphere noxious to health after a cylinder exploded injuring four persons and damaging several houses on Wednesday night.
According to the Whitefield police, the cylinder blast rocked the peace in the residential area and window panes of several homes in the neighbourhood were shattered and walls developed cracks.
Among the four injured persons is the wife of the gas-refilling unit owner Ramesh Kumar, who has been booked for not following safety norms and violating conditions while issuing him the licence.
“Ramesh claimed that he had a valid licence to run the business. We have booked him for not following safety norms and violating conditions laid down while issuing him the licence,” said a senior police official at the Whitefield police station.
Preliminary investigations revealed that work was going on in the unit even after the working hours, and that a leakage in one of the cylinders may have led to the explosion.
There were six cylinders in the unit, Fire and Emergency Services personnel said, adding that the unit had in it utensils and other materials.
Chief Fire officer (West Zone) N.R. Markandeya said negligence on part of the owner of the refilling unit led to the mishap.
“Neither did the unit follow any safety norms nor did it have any fire fighting mechanism in place,” Mr. Markandeya said, adding that they were waiting for the owner to produce relevant documents to check whether the licence was genuine.
Commenting on the frequency of the fire accidents, Mr. Markandeya said that the Fire and Emergency Services Department has attended to 700 fire accidents in and around the city since January this year. Over 30 cases were related to vehicle fire accidents and the remaining to shops, commercial establishments and houses.
