9 teams to make panchnama on blast

One more body was dug out from debris at the Dombivali blast site by fire brigade officials. The collector has formed more than nine teams to gather information about houses that were damaged due to the blast. Till now, 2,722 houses have been found damaged and more than 150 people injured in the blast. Aid would reach them soon, said officials.

Each of the nine teams formed is constituted by four officials. “The teams have rummaged several buildings and shops in the vicinity and within two days, have completed panchnama of 2,722 houses and shops that were damaged in the blast. Necessary aid is being provided to the affected families from time to time,” said an official.

In the midst of tragedy, Friday saw the devastated residents explode when an official from the collector’s office came for the panchnama completely drunk and spoke to locals in an abusive manner. “Residents of MIDC area came to us on Friday evening to lodge a complaint against survey group member, Kamlakar Patil, who was drunk while on duty. He started abusing people, angering them,” said Manpada police officials.

District vice-president of BJP, Suhasini Rane, said, “Officials were working till 1 am on Thursday. We caught them at Ganesh Nagar where they were found to be under the influence of alcohol. We request police and the collector to take action against such officers.”

Collector Mahesh Kalyankar said, “I heard about the incident and later came to know that Mr Patil was sent for an alcohol test, which came out negative. I will look into the incident and will take action against the officer if needed.”

Meanwhile, search and rescue operations at the blast site are fraught with problems. On Sunday, fire brigade and NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) officials managed to dig out the body of a 27-year-old man, Mayuresh Vaykule, a resident of Adharwadi, Kalyan, from the debris. Senior fire brigade officer Suresh Shinde said, “We don’t know how many bodies are buried under the rubble. We have got so many problems during the rescue operation because from some or other tank and we are facing breathing problem and had to stop our work for a while.”