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Controlled blast goes awry in Pune: 5 injured, roofs damaged
A well was being dug near the river and the excavation was carried out with the help of a controlled blast. During the activity, some rocks shattered and fell on the tin roofs of some of the houses, damaging them, said police
In the second such incident in the city, the controlled blasting activity carried out during digging of a well went awry, injuring five persons and damaging the roofs of some houses, the police said on Wednesday.
The controlled blast was carried out near a river in the Wadgaonsheri area of the city Monday evening, an official said. There was a loud bang, the window panes of the homes of the residents of Sainath nagar at Wadgaonsheri started shuddering and their walls started shaking as large stones went flying inside their homes, forcing the frightened residents to rush out of their independent homes.
Recalling the incident, Pravin Bhagwat Naiknavare, a resident of Samadhan colony, said, “We heard a loud noise and the walls of our houses were shuddering when there was a flurry of stones breaking through our roofs made of asbestos sheets. Some of these stones hurt us.”
Police inspector Sunil Jadhav, Chandan nagar police station, said, “A well was being dug near the river and the excavation was carried out with the help of a controlled blast. During the activity, some rocks shattered and fell on the tin roofs of some of the houses, damaging them. Five persons sustained minor injuries due to the explosion.”
An FIR was registered based on the complaint lodged by Naiknavare against Ajay Dasari who carried out the controlled blast using gelatin to dig a well near the river, when stones flew over the residents’ homes breaking through their roofs with some even hitting the people inside the houses. The police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Explosive Substances Act against Dasari, who allegedly conducted the blasting activity.
Sometime in April, controlled blasting activity led to the shattering of window panes of vehicles and houses at Bella Casa and other societies in Mohan Nagar along the Sus-Pashan Road, causing panic in the area. At the time, the police arrested the concerned contractor while PMRDA stopped the work of the builder. The residents claimed that controlled blasting was carried out wrongly without following appropriate measures, sending a number of boulders and rocks flying towards the housing societies of Bella Casa, Western Hills and Nia.
