WB minister question law and order in UP, hands over cheques to kin of blast victims

West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim on Sunday criticised the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, a day after an explosion at Bhadohi killed 13 persons, including nine from here. The state urban development minister also handed over cheques of Rs 2 lakh each as assistance to the kin of the nine persons killed in Saturday's blast.

He assured jobs under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to the wives and old-age pension to the mothers of the victims. "The district magistrate has signed cheques for distribution among the kin of the deceased from Malda, following directions from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee," Hakim stated.

Officials in the northern state said Saturday the explosion took place at a shop in Rohta Bazaar in Uttar Pradesh's Bhadohi district. Three adjacent buildings collapsed following the blast. Locals have claimed that an illegal firecracker factory in its vicinity could have led to the explosion.

"What is the condition of law and order in Uttar Pradesh? How can Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath come to West Bengal to question the state of affairs here?" Hakim said. Adityanath recently addressed public rallies in West Bengal, claiming the "ruling Trinamool Congress goons were having a free run" in the state.

Hakim demanded a proper investigation into the incident, saying "it was necessary to find out what caused the explosion of such intensity". All nine persons killed in Bhadohi blast were skilled workers and had gone to Uttar Pradesh to work in a carpet factory, he maintained.

Drawing reference to the Khagragarh blast in West Bengal in 2014, which had claimed two lives, the minister said the Bhadohi explosion has led to more deaths and should be probed thoroughly to bring to book the perpetrators. The state investigators had nabbed several Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) extremists in connection with the Khagragarh blast and handed them over to the National

Investigation Agency (NIA), he said. The JMB extremists were found using a two-storey rented house at Khagragarh to manufacture IEDs.

The state minister also said mortal remains of nine persons would be brought to Malda by Monday and district administration officials had left for Bhadohi to complete formalities. "Our officers are in touch with the Uttar Pradesh administration to bring back the bodies," he added.