BENGALURU: The death toll in the Attibele cracker fire incident reached 14 persons, all from neighbouring Tamil Nadu, while the identification of charred bodies has been taken-up by the police on Sunday. Attibele is close to Bengaluru city.
On Saturday at around 3.30 pm, fire broke out at Balaji Traders selling crackers and about 20 persons were trapped inside the godown in which crackers were getting unloaded from a truck when fire broke out. The fire engulfed the godown and even spread to outside the areas and the fire accident claimed 14 persons while four others managed to escape the fire.
It is said the labourers working in the godown belonged to Ammapettai of Thanjavur and Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur both in Tamil Nadu and they had come to work at the godown a week back.
Over the fire incident, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday visited the accident site and stated to initiate action against the godown owner Ramaswamy Reddy but after ascertaining that all precautionary measures were initiated by the owner to avert fire accident in his godown.
After the spot inspection, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said that the probe will be conducted to know the cause of fire at the godown in Attibele and stated Deputy Commissioners and police department have been asked to serve notice on cracker godowns in the State to gather details on safety measures initiated by them.
Shivakumar said Karnataka government announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to the bereaved families while Tamil Nadu government has also announced Rs 3 lakh for the deceased families.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader and previous Chief Minister Baavaraj Bommai on Sunday alleged that illegal permits have been given to store crackers in excess which has led to the fire accident killing 14 persons.
Bommai said that none of the owners (selling crackers) have been following safety measures to prevent fire accidents and observed that “Had the safety measures being in place such a huge tragedy could not have occurred?”
Expressing shock over the fire incident, the BJP leader also recalled the Haveri cracker fire accident in which four persons were killed and stated that “The Attibele cracker fire incident is the second in the State in one and half month.”
Janata Dal Secular leader and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumarswamy alleged that the fire tragedy pointed at the lack of safety measures led to the death of 14 persons and asked the State Government to order a high-level inquiry into the fire incident.
