FIR lodged against 4 persons in connection with blast at MDM Kitchen at Bangra

Satish Aditya
Motihari : Police on November 18, 2019, lodged an FIR against fours persons in connection with steam boiler blast at centralised mid-day meal (MDM) kitchen at Bangara under Sugauli police station in East Champaran District in North Bihar on November 16, 2019, morning. Police lodged the FIR after  thorough  investigation into steam boiler blast at centralised MDM  kitchen at Bangara in which three cooks were killed.

Police lodged an FIR against Kanwar Pal Singh, President, Nav Prayash Sanstha, an NGO of Delhi, and three others charging them with using steam boiler without license and fitness certificate. The rest three named accused are : Rajnish Kumar Singh, Director of NGO, Narendra Singh and Navin Kumar of  East Champaran District. All the accused belonging to the NGO are absconding. SHO, Sugauli police station, Rohit Kumar, on November 18 said that all the accused would be arrested soon.

K P Singh, Chief Boiler Inspector, Bihar, after inquiring into the incident on November 17, said that the NGO concerned was using steam boiler without license for the same. He said  the relevant  documents of  the NGO related to boiler will be examined later and a detail report would be submitted to the State Government.

Labour Superintendent, East Champaran, Rakesh Ranjan, said that the NGO had been awarded contract  to prepare MDM for  56 Government schools under Sugauli  Nagar Panchayat  in October and started using boiler without license. Govind ji, Deputy Labour Commissioner, inquired into the incident. Labour Superintendent Ranjan said that Rs 1 lakh each would be given to the next of kin of deceased cooks by the Labour Resources Department.

This boiler was not inspected  by any authorised person. According to reports,  standard security measures not were  maintained  at the centralised kitchen.

The officials of the district administration and education department officials had not inspected the centralised kitchen where MDM for more than 10,000 students was being prepared, alleged Ramashray Singh, former CPM MLA from Sugauli. Ramashray Singh, Rajendra Kumar, MLA from Harsiddhi in East Champaran, and Satyadeo Ram, MLA from of Darauli in Siwan District, have demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each to the families of the deceased and legal action against the officials concerned.