Bomb disposal squad personnel at the blast site in Kharikul, West Bengal, where nine people died on May 16, 2023. , Photo Credit: Debashish Bhaduri
Eight-year-old Anshu runs inside his one-room house to get a mobile phone so that he can show his late mother Madhabi Bagh’s picture. A 33-year-old mother was also among those who died. Blast in Khadikul village Under Egra 1 block of Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal on 16 May.
On Thursday, nearly 48 hours after the blast that rocked the picturesque village teeming with fruit trees and birdsong, many of the village children are in their white mourning clothes. Akash, 13, wearing a white dhoti, said when he heard the explosion, he thought they were “checking bombs”, but when he went outside, he saw flames everywhere.
A child shows his mother’s picture on a smartphone during a blast at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in Khadirul village in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district. , Photo Credit: Debashish Bhaduri
Anshu and Akash are not the only children who have lost their mother; Five of the nine people killed in the blast at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit were women. Madhabi Bagh had joined the illegal firecracker manufacturing unit three months ago and was paid Rs 200 a day, said her husband Sanjib Bagh. “The factory owners had seen him work and asked him to join the unit,” he said, adding that there was no employment in the village apart from agricultural work, and work under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) . had stopped.
The other women who died in the Kharikul blast have been identified as Shyamashree Maiti, Kavita Bagh, Minati Maiti and Ambika Maiti, all in their thirties and forties, leaving behind young children.
The youngest, Pinky Maiti, 26, is fighting for her life at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. His eight-year-old son Subharanjan lives in a neighbor’s house in the village. He said his mother took up the job after his father, who was working in the same unit, fell ill.
The house next to the illegal firecracker manufacturing unit belongs to Jayanthi Maity. The 52-year-old woman said that Krishnapada Bagh alias Bhanu Bagh had offered work to her and her daughters-in-law. Belarani Maity, daughter-in-law of Jayanthi Maity, said, “I had advised Minati not to work there, but he did not listen.”
Suma Jana (with her son in green), wife of Jayant Jana, who died during a blast at an illegal firecracker manufacturing unit in Khadirul village of Purba Medinipur district in West Bengal. , Photo Credit: Debashish Bhaduri
Both the women – Jayanthi and Belarani – witnessed the explosion on 16 May at 12 noon. “The window panes of our house were shattered. It was raining fire as goods from the factory were landing in the fields. We left our cattle and ran for our lives,” he said.
The elaborate structure of the unit has fallen to pieces, with parts of its roof and walls scattered in nearby paddy fields. Even 48 hours after the blast, the Bomb Disposal Squad of the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department was collecting sacks full of material from the blast site.
Several villagers of Kharikul did not hesitate to point out that crude bombs were assembled in the illegal unit under the garb of making firecrackers. A relative of deceased Kavita Bagh also alleged that Bhanu Bagh used his influence to force people to work in his unit. Behind the illegal unit is a large pond, which some locals claim was used to cool bombs. After the explosion on May 16, many bodies had to be removed from the pond.
not the first
This is not the first time Khadikul has been rocked by explosions. In 1995 and 2001 too, there were blasts at illegal units run by Bhanu Bagh. In one such blast, a former Trinamool Congress panchayat member lost his brother, but the illegal units continued to operate. Less than 100 meters from the site of the May 16 blast, some policemen guard a house that was a blast site in 2001.
According to the police, the main accused Bhanu Bagh was arrested and released on bail. He too was injured in the May 16 blast and was arrested by a CID team from Odisha’s Cuttack on Thursday. The West Bengal police also arrested his son Prithvijit Bagh and his nephew Indrajit Bagh and produced them in a court in Purba Medinipur district.
Questions have also been raised as to why charges under the Explosive Substances Act were not included in the First Information Report (FIR), although Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed she had no problem with the National Investigation Agency handling the probe. Is. The FIR registered at Egra police station includes sections 188, 286 and 304 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 24 and 26 of the Fire Service Act.
Improvised bomb blasts resulting in injuries and even loss of life to adults and children are not uncommon in West Bengal, and law enforcement agencies often confiscate such bombs.
Purba Medinipur district, which has been the epicenter of political violence since the days of the Nandigram movement about 15 years ago, has seen several explosions in the past as well. Six months ago, in December 2022, three people lost their lives in a blast in Bhupatinagar, about 40 km from Khadikul. The blast in Khadikul, where most of the victims are women, has exposed yet another facet of the illegal bomb-making industry.