Sangrur fire: Death toll reaches 5, CM announces Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia

The toll in a massive explosion at a firecracker warehouse in Punjab's Sangrur district today rose to five with the recovery of one more body.

Chandigarh, Sep 20: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Wednesday ordered an inquiry into the fire at a firecracker godown in Sangrur and announced Rs 1 lakh ex-gratia for family of deceased.

The toll in a massive explosion at a firecracker warehouse in Punjab's Sangrur district today rose to five with the recovery of one more body, the police said. Last night, four people had died and several others injured in the explosion in Sullar Gharat village in Dirba sub division.

"We recovered the body of one person from the debris," Sangrur DSP (Dirba) Yogesh Kumar said. All the deceased were labourers and they belonged to nearby Dhandori Kalan village in Sangrur, he said.

Five people were injured in the incident and one of them, who was stated to be critical, was admitted to a hospital in Patiala, the police said. The reason behind the explosion was still being investigated by the forensic science laboratory, they said. Police said that some workers who were working in the godown told the investigators that some "inflammable material" was allegedly stored for manufacturing firecrackers.

The two-storey warehouse collapsed while a nearby residential building also got damaged in this incident, police said. Expressing grief over the death of five people and injuries to some others, the chief minister directed the district administration to ascertain the cause of the incident and take remedial measure in future to prevent its recurrence.

Amarinder asked the officials to fix responsibility for the explosion and ordered stringent implementation of fire safety rules or guidelines in the operations of all business establishments and industries using hazardous and highly inflammable materials. No complacency or laxity in this regard would be tolerated, he warned.

PTI