Mamata visits Khadikul, 11 days after blast

Kolkata, May 27 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday visited Khadikul village in Purba Medinipur district, 11 days after a blast at an illegal firecracker factory there which claimed 12 lives.

She reached Alipur in the district, where a temporary helipad was made, by 11 am and drove to Khadikul, officials said.

Banerjee, who is accompanied by state chief secretary H K Dwivedi, is scheduled to meet the family members of the victims of the blast.

The Trinamool Congress supremo is likely to hand over compensation cheques of Rs 2.5 lakh to each of the kin of those killed and Rs one lakh to the injured in the blast, which took place on May 16, they said.

So far nine people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the blast. The main accused died three days later at a hospital in Cuttack in Odisha, where he fled with his family soon after the incident.

From Khadikul Banerjee is scheduled to reach Salboni in Paschim Medinipur district to join party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for TMC ‘s mass outreach programme ‘Trinamoole naba jowar’, the officials added.