The Kerosene explosions in Hazaribagh district, which claimed five lives, rocked the State Assembly today with BJP MLA from Hazaribagh, Manish Jaiswal raising the issue at floor of the house. Jaiswal raising the issue said that till date five people have lost their lives, but the Government is silent on the issue.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren, who was present in the House replying to Jaiswal’s query said that the Government has taken cognisance in the matter and has ordered a probe.
Soren said, “The Government has announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the deceased family members. In the preliminary investigation it has been found that the incident occurred due to adulteration in Kerosene. The investigation is going on where the adulteration occurred as the sample has been sent to the laboratory as the incident was confined to a small area of district.” The Chief Minister claimed that the guilty person found behind the incident will not be spared.
However, the BJP members were not satisfied with Chief Minister’s reply as the Hazaribagh legislator demanded a proper investigation in the matter along with lodging FIR against the official for dereliction of duty. Earlier, Jaiswal raising the issue during zero hour slept on the floor of the House.
The Speaker, making an objection to Hazaribagh legislator’s action, asked him not to spoil the decorum of the House. He said, “If the member wants to raise the issue there is proper parliamentary procedure.” Jaiswal was supported by fellow BJP legislators, who too reached the well of the House demanding Government reply on the issue.
Parliamentary affairs minister, Alamgir Alam first stood to reply, but the BJP legislators were not satisfied with minister assurance. The BJP legislators at the well of the House also kept on raising Jai Sri Ram slogan.
The Kerosene explosion which started on February 9, continued for a week leaving five people dead. The incident occurred at Hazaribagh Sadar in the area where Kerosene was supplied by 38 PDS dealers. The district administration in its report had stated that Kerosene was supplied to 38 PDS dealers from a particular tanker.
The IOCL, which had carried out the probe in its report had stated that kerosene which was supplied to 38 PDS dealers had 13 flashpoints, while kerosene should have 35 to 50 flashpoints. Flashpoint is an ignition point on which kerosene burns.
Sources said that IOCL in its report had also indicated about adulteration and transport disturbances in kerosene distributed under PDS in Hazaribagh. The report states that the ignition temperature (flash / ignition point) of the kerosene sample was found to be low. This is the reason that explosion incidents have occurred as soon as kerosene is used. This can only happen if there has been some kind of adulteration.