Bhubaneswar: Even as the fatal explosion and fire mishap that took place in an underground CNG chamber of IOCL filling station near Raj Bhawan in Bhubaneswar has completed one month, facts still elude the victims’ kin and local intelligentsia as well.
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Notably, two persons had died and over ten others were critically injured owing to the incident that took place October 7. The massive explosion caused severe damage to the petrol pump, vehicles of customers in the blast site, two Omfed booths and a fast-food eatery in the vicinity.
CCTV footage had revealed that the fire broke out when two persons, an IOCL technician identified as Simanchal Parida and a staffer of the petrol pump Bharadwaj Harshvardhan, were talking on their mobile phones while CNG was being transferred from a gas tanker to the underground chamber in the IOCL petrol pump.
The duo had been supervising the transfer of CNG gas.
Commissionerate Police had sent the mobile phones of these two supervisors to verify call records, in order to ascertain whether they had received any call when the fire mishap took place.
Police had scrutinised the track records of the agency concerned which was authorised to inspect the underground CNG chamber.
Several body parts which were recovered from the spot were later known to be of Simanchal, as per the DNA test report.
However, the victims’ kin still keep asking questions like how many persons were present at the petrol pump when the inferno broke out, who is responsible for the massive fire mishap and could the incident have been averted.
Allegedly, the Commissionerate Police has been showing reluctance in taking action against wrongdoers.
On the other hand, the victims’ kin, local outfits and intelligentsia have demanded CBI enquiry into the fatal incident.
PNN
