Nagpur explosives unit blast: Police register case; Opposition accuse firm of safety lapses

NAGPUR: Police have registered a case against unidentified persons in connection with the blast at an explosives manufacturing factory in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district which claimed nine lives, officials said on Monday.

Search teams have recovered a number of body parts from the site at the Solar Industries India factory in Chakdoh area where the blast took place on Sunday, they said. The body parts have been sent to a government hospital for post-mortem and DNA analysis to identify the deceased, according to sources.

Opposition legislators in the state alleged lapses by the company in ensuring the safety of workers and demanded action against Industrial Safety Department officials.

An official from Kondhali police station said search teams have so far recovered more than 50 body parts from the site of the incident.

A case has been registered against unidentified persons under IPC sections 304 (a) (causing death by negligence) and 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance) on a complaint of Kondhali police station’s assistant police inspector Pankaj Waghode.

Raising the issue in the state legislative council on Monday, Opposition leader Ambadas Danve (Shiv Sena-UBT) demanded a report from the Nagpur district collector to fix accountability and demanded action against officials concerned from the Industrial Safety Department.

Congress MLC Shashikant Shinde said: “This isn’t the first time that an explosion occurred in the company. There were two such incidents in the past.”

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis also visited the blast site and said the state government will provide compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the dead, while the amount from the company would be Rs 20

lakh each.