Mamata sorry for Egra blast: Could have been averted

Visiting the village 11 days later, Banerjee distributed compensation cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh each to relatives of those killed and Rs 1 lakh to each injured victim. She also distributed appointment letters for jobs as Home Guards to one person from the family of each victim.

Banerjee said, “Ami apnader kachhe matha nichu kore khoma chaichhi (I bow my head before you and apologise for the incident)…. If the intelligence department had worked properly this incident could have been averted. We have already removed the police station in-charge because he had not taken any action even after learning about the illegal unit.”

Banerjee said she had been trying to visit Khadikul since the day of the blast but could not make it due to inclement weather.

“Police had arrested the principal accused from a hospital in Cuttack (in Odisha), where he had taken admission under a false name. But, unfortunately, he passed away before he could anything,” she said.

Calling the incident an “eye-opener” for the administration, she said, “In the wake of the incident, we have decided to open a cluster for factories manufacturing green crackers. I have already formed a committee under the leadership of the chief secretary. The committee will submit a report within two months and we will take action accordingly. We have decided these clusters will be formed off residential areas.”

Criticising Banerjee, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “These tactics can no longer fool people of the state. No one has any control over the Trinamool Congress. From what she (the CM) said, we can only assume that more bomb-making units are coming up before the elections.”