Naihati/Chinsurah/Barasat: Two police vehicles were set on fire, and roads blocked in West Bengal's Naihati amid protests by locals as explosion while defusing seized firecrackers rocks area, official sources said.
An enormous mushroom cloud went up several metres high as firecrackers, seized by police, exploded while being defused on the banks of Ganga in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, damaging several houses even on the other bank of the river -- Chinsurah in Hooghly district.
Officials said the explosion happened in the district's Naihati town around 3 pm when sleuths of the bomb disposal squad were trying to defuse a large quantity of firecrackers that were seized recently from illegal manufacturing units in the area.
The intensity of the blast was so massive that not only houses located near Ramghat, where the incident happened, were damaged, a number private and government buildings at Chinsurah in Hooghly district were shaken, police said.
Chandannagar Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir rushed out of his office, hearing the blast, and so did judges and lawyers at the local court complex.
Many government officials who come to Chinsurah from other districts hurried to the station in panic, not knowing what has happened. Locals said they initially thought it was an earthquake, because of the tremors.
Later, when Kabir visited some areas to allay fears, he faced protests and was gheraoed for some time. Three residents of Naihati were injured due to the impact of the blast, police said.
A man sustained head injuries as tin roof of his house collapsed. Two others were injured when portions of a concrete slab hit them, an officer of the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate said.
Protesting against the authorities for not taking precautions before disposing the firecrackers, locals set two police vehicles on fire and also blocked some roads in the Naihati area, said Dhrubojyoti Dey, deputy commissioner (headquarters) of Barrackpore Police Commissionerate.
He said four personnel of Naihati police station were injured as protesters manhandled them.
"This is a very sad incident. Three residents who were inside their houses at that time of the explosion were injured. They have been admitted to the Naihati Municipal Hospital and are undergoing treatment," TMC's Naihati MLA Partha Bhowmick said after visiting the affected areas.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured that the administration would help people whose houses were damaged because of the explosion.
"I have heard that there was an explosion in Naihati during disposal of some firecrackers. The explosion was huge and because of that some buildings developed cracks," she said at the inaugural function of the annual Jatra Ustav in Barasat town of the district.
"I can assure you that if there is any damage to the buildings we will look into it. I am directing the district magistrate to look into the matter. Do not be worried," Banerjee said.
Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma visited the site and said the incident will be investigated to find out why the explosion had such a huge impact.
He said that a team of forensic experts would visit the place on Friday to conduct tests. "These firecrackers were seized from illegal fireworks units following the explosion earlier this month. The disposal of the firecrackers were being done for the last three days and today also they (bomb disposal squad) were trying to do
that. We will investigate why the impact was so huge," Verma said.
Last week, four persons, including two women, were killed in an explosion at a fireworks manufacturing factory in Naihati's Devak area, following which police started raiding illegal units and seized a huge cache of firecrackers.
The BJP demanded an NIA probe into the explosion. Hooghly MP Locket Chatterjee, who visited the affected areas in Naihati and Chinsurah, alleged that the blast was
because of RDX and not due to firecrackers as claimed by police.
"Do not call it explosion of firecrackers, it happened because of RDX explosives. The state government is solely responsible for it. The chief minister is giving shelter to the jihadis and protecting them by conducting back to back rallies. We want NIA probe the matter," she said.
"We had witnessed Khagragarh (blast) and Pingla. Even today we have no knowledge of how many people were killed in the explosion at Devak last week. And today, how many are killed we do not know," she said.
Chatterjee said the state police can't be relied on and alleged that the clues might be destroyed "That is why I want NIA to probe the matter."
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar also demanded an immediate investigation.
"The explosion leaves nothing to imagination. It calls for a thorough probe in view of its seriousness, intensity and damage caused," he said, adding that only an expert investigation can unearth the cause of the blast.
"This ominous development should be eye opener for law enforcing and regulatory regime in the state," Dhankhar said.
The CPI(M) also alleged that though the government was saying it to be an explosion of firecrackers, the intensity was such massive because it was a blast of crude bombs.
"This is the culture of Bengal. They are saying it to be firecrackers but these were country-made bombs. Even though the present state government has failed to bring industries here, they have been successful in building bomb-making factories," senior CPI(M) leader Md Salim said.
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