The damage caused to the gunpowder storage unit at Naqueri.
Photo Credits: Santosh Mirajkar
MARGAO
Agitated Naqueri-Betul locals and officials of Hughes Precision Manufacturing unit came face to face over the question whether the incident was just a fire to the storage or an explosion at the dump.
Company officials maintained that the fire was not an explosion as was claimed by the local residents and local MLA Altone D’Costa. In fact, they insisted that it was a combustion of the gunpowder, and were not ready to buy the argument of locals that there was an explosion at the site. “Technically speaking, what we have witnessed is just a combustion and fire. There was no explosion at the site,” remarked a company official.
This only evoked angry reaction from the Quepem MLA and panchayat members led by Sarpanch Pritam Deulkar, who insisted that the people rushed out to their homes after hearing a loud sound followed by fire.
“How can you say there was no explosion? The houses of people staying in the vicinity were shaken up by the loud sound. The storage dump has witnessed an explosion due to the negligence of the company,” a local remarked.
The Quepem MLA did not agree with the argument advanced by the company officials when people had heard a loud sound.
The locals also questioned the company officials whether they had deployed round the clock security at the site as per the licence conditions. They further confronted the officials whether the company had made provision for water sprinklers and fire-fighting mechanism at the site.
