Kolkata: After eight people died in a blast at an illegal firecracker factory at Patharpratima in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district, the role of the local panchayat has come under the scanner of investigating officials.
The blast took place on Monday night. District administration sources said that it had been revealed that the Banik family, at whose residence the illegal firecracker was being run, had secured an ordinary trade license from the local panchayat, which did not come with the permission to run a firecracker manufacturing unit.
Now, questions are being raised about how even that ordinary trade license was granted by the local panchayat, especially in the backdrop of criminal antecedents of one of the two arrested accused in connection with the blast, Chandrakanta Banik.
As per police records, Banik was arrested in 2022 for his involvement in the trading of illegal firecrackers and at that time, around 67 kilograms of illegal firecrackers were recovered from his possession.
Now, questions are being raised as to whether the local rural civic body granted that trade licence without background verification of the license application from the local police.
At the same time, questions are also being raised on how the local police did not have the knowledge that an illegal firecracker factory was being run at the residence by virtue of that ordinary trade licence that did not carry permission to run a firecracker manufacturing unit.
Local people have already claimed that the cops had ignored repeated alerts of a possible mishap because of the illegal firecracker factory being run from the Banik residence.
Tushar Banik, the brother of Chandrakanta Banik, the joint owner of the residence where the illegal firecracker factory was being run, is still absconding.
Police have registered a case against the Banik brothers under Section 287 (negligent conduct concerning fire or combustible matter endangering human life or causing harm), Section 288 (negligent conduct concerning explosive substances potentially endangering human life or causing injury), Section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), Section 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), Section 125 9 endangering human lives) and Section 61 (criminal conspiracy) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Additionally, they have been booked under Sections 24 and 25 of the West Bengal Fire Services Act, 1950. The last two sections are related to running of firecracker manufacturing business without a proper licence for the same.
