After consecutive blasts at illegal firecracker manufacturing units claimed at least 14 lives in the past one week, the West Bengal Government on May 22 set up a committee to look into such illegal units. The committee, headed by the State’s Chief Secretary, will submit its report in two months, State Minister Firhad Hakim said. The Minister said that people work in these factories because they are located close to their homes.
Three persons, including a minor, died on May 21 evening when an explosion triggered a fire at an illegal firecracker godown in the Nandarampur Daspara area under Budge Budge Police Station in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. On May 22, the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police started its investigation into the incident. A huge quantity of firecrackers was recovered by police officials from the site where the fire claimed the lives of three female members of a single family. Two persons were arrested in connection with the incident.
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During the day, some police personnel tried to stop mediapersons from visiting the area in Budge Budge where the accident had occurred. Local residents also stopped mediapersons from entering the area. Later in the day, the seized firecrackers kept at the Budge Budge Police Station also caught fire. Firefighters doused the fire. Small illegal firecracker manufacturing has come up in the Mahestala Budge Budge area of the district.
On May 16, an explosion at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit at Khadikul village in Purba Medinipur district claimed 11 lives. Locals at the Khadikul village claimed that in the garb of manufacturing firecrackers, illegal bombs were manufactured at the village. The prime accused in the incident, Krishnapada Bag alias Bhanu Bag, succumbed to his injuries in the incident on May 19.
On Monday, an explosion occurred at the house of a Trinamool Congress worker at Dubrajpur in the State’s Birbhum district. Locals claimed that crude bombs had been stored in the house of Morilal Sheikh and some bombs went off at about 2.30 p.m. No one was injured in the blast.
Referring to these incidents, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who holds the portfolio of the State’s Home Department, had failed as a Minister, and that she should resign. Mr. Adhikari, while demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the explosions, said that such incidents brought a “bad name” to the State.
