'Controlled explosion' of firecrackers rocks West Bengal's Naihati town

A massive blast rocked North 24 Parganas district’s Naihati town as cops conducted a controlled explosion of seized firecrackers on Thursday.

Police officials from Barrackpore commissionerate had reached the bank of Ganges at Naihati town to conduct the controlled blast of the seized firecrackers. But the impact of blast was so massive that two police vehicles were damaged and houses on the other side of the river – Chuchura in Hooghly district braced massive impact.

Houses situated kilometres away from the blast site saw massive impact with rooftops being damaged and glass window panes being shattered. Infuriated locals gheraoed Chandannagore Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir who reached the spot on the either side to assess the situation.

On the other hand, site of the blast which falls under the Barrackpore Police Commissionerate limits left locals wondering what led to the massive blast.

On reaching the spot, Barrackpore Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said, “We are investigating the matter. We have been detonating fire crackers and explosives since the last three days. We did not face any trouble in the last two days. We will investigate what went wrong, it is difficult to comment now.”

On the other hand, BJP leaders including state president Dilip Ghosh demanded NIA enquiry into the incident.

This apart, the West Bengal Governor, Jagdeep Dhankhar took to Twitter and demanded a probe. 

“The explosion leaves nothing to imagination. It calls for thorough probe in view of its seriousness, intensity and damage caused. Only expert investigation can unearth issues involved. This ominous development should be eye opener for law enforcing and regulatory regime in State,” he wrote on Twitter.