The Calcutta High Court has sought a report from the state government on the recent coal mine blast case in Birbhum district, in which six miners were killed and two others are feared to have also died. Three persons are injured in this blast incident, out of which one has sustained severe injuries and is undergoing treatment at Suri Sadar Hospital.
Advocate Anindya Sundar Das on behalf of one Dipak Kumar Sarkar has already filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking NIA probe into the Birbhum Coal mines blast case at the division Bench of Calcutta High Court, headed by Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam few days before the Durga Puja festival.
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The vacation Bench of Calcutta High Court comprising Justice Tirthankar Ghosh and Justice Uday Kumar have directed to submit the forensic report to the court of the samples collected from the blast site within 5 November.
The vacation Bench stated that after getting the forensic report the division Bench comprising Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam will decide whether they will give order for a NIA probe or not.
Already the NIA has been probing separate cases of huge quantities of explosives haul cases in Birbhum district in recent times and has arrested a number of persons. However, these are mostly related to the illegal coal and stone mining in the district.
The recent Birbhum mines blast in Gangaramchak-Bhadoria, belonging to the West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) for its captive coal use in the thermal power plants.
However, the WBPDCL has appointed a Kolkata-based private company for the Mine Developer and Operator (MDO).
Six persons have been already identified and handed over compensation cheques of Rs 32 lakh each by the state government, while the state is waiting for DNA samples matching test for two others who are feared killed.
The state government has handed over compensation of Rs 2 lakh and the WBPDCL a compensation cheque of Rs 30 lakh.
Due to the severe impact of the power explosions, the bodies of the two persons were beyond recognition and dismantled into pieces.
All the victims are local tribal people, hailing from the surrounding villages.
The Union coal ministry handed over the coal patch to WBPDCL for captive coal use for its thermal power plants in 2015 and WBPDCL handed over the coal mine to private contractor later in 2016.
