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Kerala orders judicial probe into Thrissur fire tragedy, announces ₹14 Lakh compensation for victims' families
Officials said the toll was feared to rise as several unidentified body parts were found at the scene of the blaze at Mundathicode in the Thrissur district
The Kerala government on Wednesday ordered a judicial commission inquiry into the fire that claimed at least nine lives at the firecracker unit at Mundathicode in the Thrissur district and ₹14 lakh compensation for the families of those killed.
Officials said the toll was feared to rise as several unidentified body parts had been found at the blaze scene. The blaze ripped through the unit while workers were preparing fireworks for the sample display on the Thrissur Pooram on behalf of the Thiruvambady temple administration on Tuesday afternoon.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan convened a special Cabinet meeting on Wednesday for decisions on compensation and the probe. A statement from the chief minister’s office said retired high court judge CN Ramachandran Nair will investigate the reasons for the blast and submit a report.
The compensation for each family would include ₹4 lakh from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and ₹10 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF). The injured would get compensation as per SDRF norms and ₹2 lakh from the CMDRF.
The Kerala government, which has categorised the explosion as a “state-specific disaster”, would bear the expenses of the medical treatment of those injured for six months.
