West Bengal: Massive blast rocks Naihati town amidst detonation of firecrackers

A massive blast rocked North 24 Parganas district’s Naihati town amidst the detonation of seized firecrackers on Thursday.

Police officials from Barrackpore commissionerate had reached the riverbank of Ganges at Naihati town to detonate the seized firecrackers. But the impact of bomb detonation 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 were shattered. Infuriated locals gheraoed Chandannagore Police Commissioner Humayun Kabir who reached the spot on 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 firecrackers and explosives for 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 serious probe. 

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