BHOPAL: A powerful explosion at a firecracker factory in Banaskantha district, Gujarat, killed several workers, most of whom were from Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas and Harda districts. At least ten of the victims were from Dewas, while at least eight others were from Harda.Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav announced that Rs 2 lakh would be given to each victim’s family, and Rs 50,000 would be provided to each injured worker. State cabinet minister Nagar Singh Chouhan, who comes from the region near Gujarat, is being sent to the accident site for better coordination.According to an initial statement from the Dewas district administration, nine of the ten victims from the district were from the same village, Sandalpur, in the Khategaon area. Among them were six members of one family and three from another. The six members of one family were Lakhan Bhopa (24), his wife Sunita (20), his mother Keshar Bai (50), and his siblings Radha (11), Rukma (8), and Abhishek (5). This family was headed by Ganga Ram Bhopa. The other three victims from the village were Rakesh Bhopa (30), his wife Lali (25), and their daughter Kiran (5).The contractor, Pankaj, also from Dewas, was missing since the morning and is suspected to be among the dead, bringing the total number of victims from Dewas to ten. The Dewas district administration is in constant contact with authorities in Banaskantha. A team led by Nayab Tehsildar Akhilesh Sharma from the revenue and police departments is being sent to Banaskantha. Local BJP MLA Ashish Sharma (Khategaon) has rushed to Sandalpur village to help bring back the bodies.In Harda district, at least eight people from Handia village are believed to have died in the explosion. Harda district collector Aditya Singh said, “We’re still working with the Banaskantha administration in getting the identities of all the deceased and their profiles, and the final list of deceased and injured could take some more time.”A similar explosion destroyed an illegal firecracker factory in Harda in February 2024, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 200. Local Congress MLA Ram Kishore Dogne, who visited Handia village, said, “7-8 deceased hail from one extended family, headed by middle-aged Savita, who is among the deceased. Even the contractor Laxmi, who had taken them to the factory in Gujarat for work, is among those missing and might have died.”Dogne added, “Most of those who died were actually those who worked at firecracker factories run by one Agrawal family. While the firecracker factory blast in Harda town in February 2024 flattened the main factory, a related factory five km away too was shut down due to the strictness of the local administration, leaving the labourers with no other option but to work elsewhere. This isn’t the first time that they had gone to work at the factory in Gujarat, they had gone there in the past also. They had returned to Gujarat again just two days back.”A senior state government official in Bhopal said the government is working with Gujarat officials to complete autopsies and ensure the bodies are safely transported back to Dewas and Harda. So far, at least 18 people from the two districts have died, while eight others are injured. Five of the injured are in critical condition.
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