Debris and sacks lying after the explosion in a cold storage near Zuberganj market in Raunahi.
Sohawal. A huge explosion took place on Wednesday due to leakage of ammonia gas in Noor Cold Store located in Zuberganj market of Raunahi police station area. The walls on both sides of the cold store collapsed. Bricks, debris and potatoes kept in sacks flew in the air and spread to the road. After the incident, the police and fire brigade team inspected the spot.
SDM Sohawal Ashok Kumar Saini also reached there. Five people present in the cold storage during the incident have been evacuated safely.
According to Masodha resident cold store supervisor Parmanand Maurya, lift work was going on in the store. Due to this, ammonia gas from one line was being emptied and shifted to the other line. During this process, the lift suddenly came between the first line and the second line and gas started leaking. In no time, there was a loud explosion and both the surrounding walls collapsed.
After the accident, five people including the supervisor got stuck inside. Four people were on the ground floor. Due to this, they came out on their own, but the supervisor got stuck on the fifth floor. He was taken out by the rescue team.
Store owner Farid Ahmed, resident of Gaura Patti Niyawa, said that there has been a loss of about three crores in this accident. SHO Pankaj Singh says that there has been no loss of life in the explosion. The matter is being investigated.
The cold store was running without fire NOC
During investigation, the cold store located in Raunahi was found to be operating without the NOC from the fire department. Chief Fire Officer MP Singh said that a letter was also written to the garden department earlier, but the action of fire NOC was not taken. The matter is being investigated. Action will be taken on the basis of the standards which have been disregarded.
Playing with the rules and lives of people
Along with ignoring the rules in the operation of cold storage, people’s lives are also being played with. There are many establishments around the place where this cold storage is located in Zuberganj market. There is a restaurant right next to it, where hundreds of people keep coming and going throughout the day. Apart from this, there are many shops nearby. If the gas leak was not stopped on time, a very painful and big accident could have happened.
The heat of investigation should not cool down
Explosion due to leakage of ammonia gas is not a trivial matter. Seeing the way the walls of the cold storage have collapsed on the spot, it can be clearly said that if there had been even a slight delay, the accident could have taken a terrible form. However, now it remains to be seen what the responsible people do in the name of investigation of the matter? SDM Ashok Kumar Saini, who reached the spot after the incident, said that the concerned department will conduct a technical investigation of why and how the leakage happened.