Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has promised to punish the guilty and hand over the case to the CID after the death toll in the firecracker factory fire climbed to 14 following two more deaths, as per PTI. The two people lost their lives while undergoing treatment. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said action will be taken based on the findings into the matter. While speaking to the media, CM Siddaramaiah said, "There was a fire incident on October 7th...The place where the crackers were stocked and sold had no safety measures. Thus, there was a violation of the Explosives Act. In the fire, 14 people have lost their lives, and four are injured. The fire forces did a wonderful job extinguishing the fire. I am going to hand over this case to CID...It will investigate the cause and who is responsible for this...We are going to punish the people who committed wrongdoing...All the bodies have been identified."
Meanwhile, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar called it a “grave incident”. He further said, “We are going to come up with a plan of action within two to three days”. Shivakumar visited the spot on Saturday and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the deceased, he also said that all hospital expenditure will be taken care of.
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According to police, most of the victims hailed from Ammalpettai in the Dharmapuri district, Vaniyambadi in Tirupattur and Kallakurichi districts in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. Karnataka DGP Alok Mohan on Sunday said that 35 people were working in the godown but 14 people couldn't come out of that place. When asked if there were any children working in the store he said that the postmortem would reveal that.
Mohan also added that a total of five people were held accused in the case and two people, including the owner, have been arrested. "We will also look into the lapses by various agencies. The cause of the fire will be known during the investigation," he said.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin offered his condolences to the families of those who died in the mishap and announced a relief of Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of the deceased.
In a statement, he said he has deputed his cabinet colleagues R Sakkarapani and Ma Subramanian to oversee the treatment requirements of the injured and coordinate steps for their transfer to Tamil Nadu, as may be the requirement.
The TN CM announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each to the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 to those with simple injuries.