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Bhadohi killer blast could be act of sabotage, says Hakim

ENAYETPUR: The explosion in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi that killed 12 people, including 9 from Malda, could be sabotage and revealed the poor law and order in that state, West Bengal’s municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim said during a visit to the victims’ families here on Sunday.


He announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for each family apart from widow pension and family pension.

The victims’ wives would get jobs in ICDS and the families would be provided foodgrain at a low price under Khadyasathi schemes.

“Chief minister of UP frequents this state and raises questions about law and order in Bengal. This explosion reveals that the situation is far worse there,” Hakim said.

He also questioned the nature of the blast. “Grenade was found at the explosion spot. We are not ruling out the possibility of sabotage.”

“A team has been sent there. They will coordinate with the UP administration to find out the cause of explosion. We demand exemplary punishment for those responsible,” the minister added. The explosion had ripped through a carpet manufacturing unit in the UP town.

Local weavers Rahul Ansari and Gulzar Momin were among those who did not buy the cracker theory. “We know that area very well. There was no godown to stock firecrackers nearby,” they said.

Hakim questioned the BJP government’s role in checking violence in UP. “In our state, we have arrested activists of Jamat who were behind the Khagragarh blast and handed them to NIA. But what is the role of BJP government in UP? Sometimes innocents are being lynched for carrying beef, blasts are killing people, ” he said.

On Sunday, none of the 50-odd carpet weaving factories in the village 28km from Malda worked.

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