PURBA MEDNIPUR, May 17, 2023 (TBINN)
An explosion at an illegal firecracker unit located in Egra in Purba Medinipur District of West Bengal has killed five people and critically injured seven others, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
The impact of the explosion was so massive that the factory, which was being run in a residential building, which collapsed, police said.
Senior Bhartiya Janta Party leader Suvendu Adhikari demanded a probe by the National Investigation Agency (N.I.A.) into the incident. Whereas, villagers told the Press that the entire house looked like a war zone with body parts and debris strewn all around, including in a nearby pond.
Reportedly, illegal firecracker unit was functioning at a house in a village near the West Bengal-Odisha border. Five people were killed and seven others were critically injured in the blast. An investigation is under way, Banerjee said.
The firecrackers were being sent to Odisha and local labourers were working there, she said, adding that the state Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D.) is probing the incident.
Trinamool Congress supremo said the next of kin of the deceased will get a compensation of Rs 2.5 lakh each and the injured will get Rs 1 lakh, while the state government will bear the expenses of their treatment.
Mamata Banerjee said action will be taken against the local police chief of Egra Police Station as he had no information that an illegal firecracker unit was operating in the area.
Answering on the B.J.P.’s demand for an N.I.A-probe, Mamata Banerjee said she has no objection to the central agency taking over the investigation.
We do not have any objection to the N.I.A.-probe. But I would like to point out that the probe by the C.I.D. has already started, she Mamata informed. Preliminary investigation found that all the five deceased and seven injured were working in the factory, a police officer said.
Mamata Banerjee said the owner of illegal firecracker unit, who was arrested in October last year for running the factory, has fled to neighbouring Odisha after the explosion.
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