At least eight persons were killed when an explosion occurred on Sunday morning at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in the Mochpol area under Duttapukur Police Station in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district. Two of the deceased were identified as Keramat Ali and his son Roushan Ali. Six bodies are yet to be identified and have been kept at the morgue at the Barasat Medical College and Hospital.
The two-storied house where the firecrackers were allegedly manufactured came crashing down. Several houses in the vicinity also suffered damage.
Locals heard a loud explosion at 8.30 a.m. in the morning. Arifa Bibi, a resident of the area, said that she was thrown a few feet away and several articles in her house fell down because of the impact of the explosion.
Residents of the area said that bodies were scattered in the rubble. An elaborate set-up for manufacturing firecrackers was also found at the site of the explosion. Several shanties, covered with only tarpaulin sheets and containing raw materials for manufacturing firecrackers, were found amidst bamboo groves near the site of the explosion.
Keramat Ali, who died in the explosion, is said to have operated the illegal unit at the house of one Shamshul Ali.
Locals alleged that they had complained to the police about the illegal firecracker manufacturing unit but the police did not act. Barasat Police District Superintendent of Police Bhaskar Mukherjee said that people had been rescued and hospitalised. He did not comment on the number of casualties.
Only three months ago, over 12 people were killed at an explosion in an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit at Egra in Purba Medinipur district of the State.
After the incident at Egra, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had set up a committee headed by the State’s Chief Secretary to take steps against illegal firecracker manufacturing units in the State, and set up green firecracker manufacturing hubs.
Political parties in the Opposition, particularly the BJP, demanded an investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the explosion. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging that the NIA should probe the incident.
The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that decisions taken by the West Bengal Government after the blast at Ergra were “merely a publicity stunt to diffuse the tension and public outrage at that time”. “They won’t take any action this time either and wait patiently for the media attention to die down. The interests of the TMC (Trinamool Congress) party are aligned with these illegal explosive manufacturing units,” Mr. Adhikari alleged.
State Minister and local MLA Rathin Ghosh pointed a finger at the Indian Secular Front (ISF), and said that the Trinamool had lost in the area where the explosion had occurred in the recent panchayat polls. Mr. Ghosh said that most of those who died in the explosion had come to work in the firecracker manufacturing unit from Murshidabad.
Later in the evening, a team from the TMC comprising MP Kakuli Ghosh Dastidar, Minister Jyotipriya Mullick, and Mr. Rathin Ghosh, visited the site of the explosion.
About 10 workers from Suti in Murshidabad, who were working at the site, have been missing since the explosion. ISF leader Nawshad Siddique was among those who reached the site. Mr. Siddique refuted allegations that his party workers had been involved in the illegal firecracker manufacturing unit.
