West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is likely to visit Egra in Purba Medinipur district on Friday, where 12 people were killed in a huge explosion at an illegal firecracker factory last week, a senior government official said. The opposition BJP has demanded an NIA investigation into the blast.
“The CM will visit Egra on Friday. She will meet family members of the victims of the explosion,” the official said on Tuesday. The Trinamool Congress supremo’s visit to Egra assumes significance as three back-to-back explosions linked to illegal firecrackers have taken place in seven days in the state ahead of the panchayat elections. The dates of the polls, however, are yet to be announced.
While the blast at Egra occurred on May 16, three members of a family were killed in an explosion at an illegal firecracker unit in South 24 Parganas district’s Budge Budge on May 21. Another blast happened allegedly in the house of a local Trinamool Congress leader at Dubrajpur in Birbhum district on May 22. Locals claimed crude bombs were stored in the house. There was no casualty.
In order to make sure that such illegal factories do not exist any more, the state Cabinet decided to set up clusters for manufacturing green firecrackers industry and formed a committee to look into the matter. Meanwhile, the state government held a meeting on Tuesday with firecracker manufacturers, an official said.
It was decided at the meeting that various types of clusters will be set up for making and storing firecrackers legally, he said.Babla Roy, chairman of an organisation of firecracker makers in the state who was present at the meeting, said the administration will help them build sheds and godowns on government or private land.
The clusters will be built in open spaces at least 300 metres away from congested areas, said Roy, the chairman of Sara Bangla Atash Bazi Unnayan Samity. Experts will hold workshops on how to manufacture green firecrackers, he said.
