Villagers around ordnance depot live in grip of fear

The residents of villages surrounding the explosive demolition ground at Pulgaon town in Wardha district of Maharashtra, where an explosion claimed six lives on Tuesday, have been living in the grip of fear.

The residents of Kelapur, Sonegaon, Chikni and Jamni villages, located close to the ordnance depot, say they are scared of living so close to the ammunition and blasts all the time. They feel living in these villages has become quite dangerous.

Vandan Jadhav (46), a farmer from Kelapur village, which has a population of around 1,200 people, says he felt "terrorised" after the explosion on Tuesday.

"The trucks carrying unserviceable ammunition pass through the roads located along our houses. We are compelled to think what if that ammunition blasts while being transported to the demolition ground," he said.

"Due to the ammunition blasts, the walls of our houses have developed cracks. The utensils kept in the houses and the tin roofs start making noise due to the tremors created by the blasts," he said.

According to Jadhav, around 10 blasts are carried out everyday and if the quantity of the ammunition is more, the number of blasts goes up.

Manohar Bahote, employed as a contract labourer for loading and unloading ammunition, said, "We stay around 50 to 60 metres from the blast pit, which is around 6 feet deep. Once the blasts are over, we rush to the pit to collect the ammunition remains. We start at 5 am and and the entire exercise continues till 10 am."
Another resident, Suryakant Borkar, said, "We are in a state of shock. We feel terrorised."