A day after 23 lives were lost in Batala firecracker factory, the Punjab Police on Thursday claimed that the cracker manufacturing unit in a densely-populated residential area was running illegally and its licence to manufacture crackers was expired in 2013 — putting the district administration in dock.
The residents, who were shaken by the blasts and the death toll, protested against the district administration blaming it for the “criminal negligence” demanding action against the officers involved.
Batala Senior Superintendent of Police Opinderjit Singh Ghumman on Thursday said that the cracker manufacturing unit in a densely-populated residential area was running illegally and its licence was expired in 2013.
“I didn't come to know about it earlier. Otherwise, it would have been closed down...Now, we are checking the licences of all factories in Batala city,” he added.
He said: “The police has was registered an FIR against the owner in 2017 under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, no action was taken.”
Notably, a similar blast occurred in this area in January 2017, leaving one person dead and three injured.
Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Vipul Ujwal admitted that the factory owner had applied for the renewal of licence to manufacture the crackers.
At least 23 people were killed and 27 were left injured after an explosion took place at the firecracker factory in Punjab's Gurdaspur on Wednesday afternoon.
Several cars parked nearby were also damaged in the blast, with locals saying that the explosion was heard a few kilometres away.
The police said that the cause of the blast, which damaged the buildings in radius up to 200 metres, is yet to be ascertained.
The teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) conducted rescue and relief operations with the help of district administration and the civilians.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who is yet to visit the spot, has deputed the state Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa to oversee the relief and rescue operations, besides ordering a magisterial probe into the matter.
Bajwa, who had visited the Civil Hospital in Batala again on Wednesday night, also paid a visit in the morning to inquire about the health of the victims.
However, NDRF has declared the termination of search operation on Thursday.
DC Ujwal said that 19 bodies have been identified so far out of which five of the dead were from the families of the owners and identified as Surinder Singh, Paramjit Singh, Onkar Singh, Vikramjit Singh, and Rajinderpal Singh.
Eleven others worked at the factory. The police identified them as Shamlal, Mukha, Balkar Singh, Lakha Singh, Balkar, Tarlok Singh, Sonu, Manpreet Singh, Alia, Vinay and Lalli.
Three local residents — Bimala Rani, Ramandeep Kaur and Pahulpreet Singh — also died in the blast.
The State Government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs two lakh each to the relatives of those killed and Rs 50,000 for each of the seven severely injured.
Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa on Thursday urged the Punjab Government to register cases against the officials responsible for the tragedy.
“If the responsibility of any official is not fixed, this kind of incidents will continue to happen in the future as well,” he said.