Lagatar24 Desk
North 24 Parganas, August 28: The local police made a significant development in the case on Monday by arresting one person in the ongoing investigation into the Sunday explosion at an illegal firecracker factory in Duttapukur, in the North 24 Parganas district, which left 8 people dead and numerous others injured.
The arrested person was identified as Safikul Islam.
The Barasat Fire Station estimated that 8 people were killed in the explosion. “With one more body recovered from the wreckage of the factory, the toll in the cracker factory blast is now at 8,” Prashanta Ghosh, an official of the Barasat Fire Station said on Monday.
The Governor of West Bengal, CV Ananda Bose, went to the explosion site in Duttapukur after the tragedy on Sunday.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a Congress leader, criticised the West Bengal government harshly following the incident on Sunday, saying the incidents show how poorly the state’s administration is performing.
“The amount of explosive materials (found at the scene of the blast) is proof that the Bengal government has allowed traders to run such illegal units wherever they want, even at the cost of lives. Traders, who deal in explosives, are being given complete freedom to run such units. This has resulted in such incidents,” the Congress leader said.
“The incident shows the abject failure of the state machinery and the law enforcement authorities. We only come to know of such factories when blasts happen and innocent lives are lost. After a cursory response from the administration and the police, everything goes quiet, and the illegal units return to business. It is the common man, who is made to pay the ultimate price for such illegal and nefarious activities,” he added.
Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition, claimed that West Bengal as a whole is a loaded gun. “This is not an isolated incident. The entire state is sitting on a powder keg. The chief minister had promised to close these illegal cracker-manufacturing factories, but she is busy protecting the thieves in her government and hosting the Imams instead. She is holding meetings with Muslim preachers,” he said.
