Lokayukta visits Attibele firecracker mishap site; four officials suspended

BENGALURU: Days after the firecracker mishap at Attibele, which left 14 people dead, the government on Wednesday suspended four officials. On Tuesday, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had announced that action will be taken against the officials responsible.

Lokayukta Justice B S Patil inquiring with Bengaluru DC K Dayanand, Bengaluru Rural SP Mallikarjun Baladandi and other officials.

The suspended officials are previous tahsildar of Anekal, Sridhar Madyal, deputy tahsildar Sridhar V C, revenue inspector Pushparaj A and village accountant Bhagesh Hosamani. They have been held responsible for allowing the trader to stock 1,000 kg of firecrackers without conducting an inspection of the premises.

Meanwhile, Lokayukta Justice B S Patil and team visited the site of the mishap at Attibele and inquired into how the permit was issued, whether was any corruption. He was briefed by Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner K Dayanad and Bengaluru Rural SP Mallikarjun Baladandi. Lokayukta SP Srinath Joshi, Bengaluru Rural Additional SP Purushotham and other officials were also present.

Some godowns were checked by the officials and sealed.

The Lokayukta also directed the police, revenue and fire and emergency services officials to conduct inspection of all firecracker godowns in the state and put a stop to illegal activities. “This is an unfortunate incident. Such a thing wouldn’t have happened if rules and regulations were followed. The seller had a permit only to sell, and not stock firecrackers in a godown. Citizens too should help in curbing such illegalities. Prima facie, official negligence is evident”, he said.

The officials, led by tahsildar Shivappa Lamani and Additional SP Purushotham, also inspected two godowns where firecrackers worth lakhs of rupees had been stocked illegally and seized them.