Owners, labour contractor held in Muktsar factory blast case

The police have arrested three persons in connection with the Friday’s devastating blast at an illegal firecracker factory at Fatuhiwala village in the Lambi Assembly segment here. Five persons were killed in the blast, while around 30 were injured. Those arrested in connection with the case include factory owners Tarsem Singh (Aam Aadmi Party activist) and his son Navraj Singh, and labour contractor Raj Kumar. Tarsem’s wife Sukhchain Kaur, who was initially named in the FIR, is absconding. The factory’s land was in her name, said a police officer. The factory owners hail from adjoining Singhewala village. Tarsem was produced in a court on Saturday that remanded him in four-day police custody. The blast, which occurred around 1 am on Friday, reduced the double-storey factory building into rubble, trapping nearly 40 workers, mostly migrant labourers. The explosion, reportedly audible up to 10 km away, occurred during a dust storm and is suspected to have been triggered by a spark in the firecracker production unit. A preliminary probe by the district administration revealed that while an application for permission to manufacture firecrackers had been submitted under the Explosives Act on April 1, it was, however, not granted till date. An injured worker, whose 17-year-old brother was also hurt in the blast, expressed despair over being abandoned without any resources or support. Muktsar SSP Akhil Chaudhary said three arrests had been and a case registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Indian Explosives Act, and the Factories Act at the Lambi police station. Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and PCC chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring’s wife Amrita Warring visited the injured yesterday. While Khudian vowed strict action against those responsible and promised full assistance to the victims’ families, Sukhbir demanded a thorough probe into the incident and accused AAP leaders of shielding the owners of the illegal factory. No money to take bodies home: Kin Many relatives of the blast victims have claimed that they don’t even have the requisite money to take bodies back home in Uttar Pradesh. “We reached Gidderbaha with great difficulty. We don’t even have the money to take the bodies back home in a cab,” said deceased Akhilesh’s brother-in-law Bhupinder. Akhilesh is survived by his wife, a five-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son. Deceased Salinder Singh’s brother said, “We had no idea that they were working in such hazardous conditions. The contractor lied to us with promises of high wages. The contractor and the factory owner are responsible for all this.” Gurpreet Singh Thind, ADC (General), Muktsar, said, “Three ambulances have been arranged through the District Red Cross Society for the families to take the bodies back to their native places.”

Punjab