Friday, 25 April 2025
Friday, 25 April 2025
At the state secretariat in Howrah, ADG South Bengal Supratim Sarkar said, two people have been arrested in connection with the explosion at Dholaghat.
“It is almost impossible for the police to know who is storing firecrackers at home. You are cooking in the same room so the gas cylinder, fire crackers are all in the same house which is always a sign of a disaster waiting to happen,” Sarkar said this afternoon at the state secretariat in Howrah. “It was an accidental fire that was set off from a house near a firecrackers godown. We have arrested Chandranath Banik and his brother Tushar.”
He said the police were waiting for the forensics team’s report on what caused the explosion and the kind of firecrackers that were stored.
Sarkar said the state police will engage with the firecracker manufacturers on creating awareness about storage of raw materials and firecrackers.
“In 2022 also we had seized 68 kgs of illegal firecrackers. There has to be accountability on where they store fire crackers because it is always a risk having these factories close to places where people live,” he said.
The explosion occurred on Monday around 9.30 pm, where seven members of the Banik family, including a toddler were charred to death. Some others were rescued and brought to the Kakdwip hospital and SSKM.
The locals alleged the raw materials and the finished fire crackers were stored inside the Banik residence. Chandrakanta Banik and his brother Tushar Kanti ran the factory.
In the last two years, over 20 people have lost their lives in different instances of explosions in illegal firecracker factories in East Midnapore, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas and Nadia.
