A bomb misfired during the army’s artillery firing practice which later exploded near a Van Gurjar settlement in Badkala forest…
Representational image (Photo: Getty Images)
A bomb misfired during the army’s artillery firing practice which later exploded near a Van Gurjar settlement in Badkala forest range of Saharanpur on Thursday, claiming the life of a woman and leaving two others, including a forester seriously injured.
District magistrate of Saharanpur P K Pandey has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The woman who died in the explosion has been identified as Fatima, 32. Forester Abdul Gani and Van Gujjar Imam Hussain, 30, sustained injuries in the mishap. The condition of the Forester is stated to be critical.
Advertisement
Gani had gone to the settlements of Van Gurjars deep inside the forest to help in administering polio drops to their children when he fell victim to the mishap along with Fatima and Imam. The Army has an artillery practice range in Badkala forest range of Saharanpur. Families of Van Gurjars also live inside the forest.
Sunil Dubey, conservator of forests in Saharanpur division, said the forest department has given this range of the Shivalik forest to the Army on lease where they have been practicing artillery firing for years.
The Army tells the district administration, police and forest department at least a week before beginning the practice so that the entire area can be cleared well in advance in order to prevent any accident.
District magistrate P K Pandey have announced an ex gratia to the family of the deceased woman. He said the accident occurred due to ‘misfire’ though an inquiry has been ordered to probe the reasons.
According to the DM villagers sometimes venture into the jungle to collect exploded and unexploded bomb shells and extract metal from them which they sell.
The conservator of forests has spoken to Army officers to prevent such incidents in future. “A joint meeting of forest department, army and district administration could be convened to discuss the issue and to find ways to prevent such incidents in future,” said Dubey.
Many similar incidents have been reported in the past claiming several human lives in this artillery range due to unexploded bombs.
Advertisement
