Kolkata. Nine people were killed and several others injured in a blast at an illegal firecracker factory in West Bengal on Tuesday. A senior police officer gave information about this incident.
Police said the explosion was “so powerful” that the residence where the factory was operating collapsed. Villagers said that the entire spot looked like a ‘war zone’ with bodies lying in tatters and debris strewn all around.
The state government has ordered a CID probe into the incident, while the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded an NIA probe into the incident and has written a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in this regard.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, ‘This illegal firecracker manufacturing unit was running in a house in a village near the West Bengal-Odisha border. Firecrackers made there were sent to Odisha. Local laborers used to work there.
Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee claimed that the panchayat area where the blast took place is governed by a BJP-backed independent leader and Trinamool workers are not allowed to enter that village.
He said that when the policemen went to that village, they were attacked by the villagers. He said that the BJP and the CPI(M) have been instigating people to thrash the policemen and strict action will be taken against the culprits.
Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee said that Rs 2.5 lakh each would be given to the next of kin of those who lost their lives in the incident and Rs one lakh each to the injured and the state government would bear the expenses of their treatment.
On BJP’s demand for NIA probe, Banerjee said, “We have no objection to it. This is the district of their leaders, so they have some formulas. Let the investigators find out.
