Eluru, August 14: Four persons, including two women, died and two others were injured in a cracker blast at Annavarappadu village in Peravali mandal of West Godavari district last night.
The blast occurred while crackers brought from Khandavalli were being unloaded at a house in the village. The deceased were identified as K Subba Lakshmi (45), Ch Ramadevi (40), Ch Achaiah (40) and K Srinu (45) of Khandavalli. The bodies were shifted to the area hospital in Tanuku for postmortem.
Achaiah who bought the crackers for the ensuing Deepavali, tried to stock them in his friend’s house to avoid the police raid.
Ganapavaram inspector L Ankaiah and Peravali sub-inspector A Chandra Sekhar visited the village.
On August 10, five persons lost their lives in a cracker blast at Peddayellampalli village in Ungutur mandal . Eluru Range DIG Mahesh Bhagawat suspended Chebrolu sub-inspector M Subba Rao and constable KV Ramana Murthi for dereliction of duties.
The DIG also issued show-cause notices to Eluru DSP Sai Sekhar and Ganapavaram inspector Ankaiah for their failure to enforce closure of unauthorised cracker manufacturing units.
After a cracker blast at Samalkot in East Godavari district on May 18, the DIG directed all the police officers in Krishna, East and West Godavari districts to intensify raids on illegal cracker manufacturing units. In East Godavari district, Vetlapalem, Komripalem and some other villages are famous for cracker business.
People used to manufacture crackers unauthorisedly in their houses.
Speaking to ‘Express’ over phone, DIG Mahesh Bhagawat said special teams were formed to intensify raids on illegal cracker manufacturing units in the three districts.
He appealed to people to inform the police about the illegal cracker manufacturing units in their villages to prevent mishaps.
–Agencies