Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has taken cognisance of the report and is likely to order a larger probe, said sources.
The Army has cited leaking TNT from the anti-tank mines as the major cause of the massive fire at the Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), Pulgaon on May 31 that killed 19, including two of its officers, sources said on Thursday. TNT is an explosive material used in mines.
In a report submitted to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), it has also underlined that defective anti-tank mines were stored at the CAD shed-which was completely reduced to ashes in the incident - for nine years and were waiting to be attended by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), sources added.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has taken cognisance of the report and is likely to order a larger probe, said sources.
Army's report highlights match with that of a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report last year, according to which 102,805 anti-tank mines were found to be defective across various ammunition depots in the country.
Officials told dna that army wanted to destroy these defective anti-tank mines and awaiting an approval over it from MOD.
The dead and injured personnel were the first group of men who responded to the fire. They died while containing the fire in the same shed where it began and had it not been for them, the fire would have spread in other sheds too, a source said.
CAG's performance report for the period of 2008-2013, had raised questions on some of even those ammunition products accepted by Quality Assurance as it did not find them up to mark. The auditing agency noted that there persistent quality problems in ammunition stored across the depots in the country.
CAD is country's largest ammunition depot spread over 7000 acres. It stores a variety of ammunition including that of AK-47s and Brahmos Missiles in total 299 storage sheds.
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