Women trapped in bomb-making ‘cottage industry’ in West Bengal’s Khadikul 

Several villagers at Khadikul in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district did not hesitate to point out that under the garb of manufacturing crackers, crude bombs were assembled at the illegal unit.

Eight-year-old Anshu rushes inside his single-room home to get a mobile phone so that he could show a photo of his late mother, Madhabi Bag. The 33-year-old mother was among those who died in the explosion at Khadikul village under Egra 1 block of West Bengal’s Paschim Medinipur district on May 16.

On Thursday, nearly 48 hours after the explosion which rocked the picturesque village with an abundance of fruit trees and birds, several children in the village are in their white mourning clothes. Akash, 13, in a white dhoti, said that when he heard the explosion, he thought they were “checking bombs” but when he went out, he saw flames everywhere.

Anshu and Akash are not the only children who have lost their mother; five of the nine persons killed in the explosion at the illegal cracker manufacturing unit were women. Madhabi Bag had joined the illegal cracker manufacturing unit three months ago and was paid ₹200 a day, her husband Sanjib Bag said. “The factory owners had seen her working and asked her to join the unit,” he said, adding that there was no employment to be found in the village other than agricultural work, and work under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) had stopped.

The other women who died in the explosion at Khadikul have been identified as Shyamashree Maity, Kavita Bag, Minati Maity and Ambika Maity, all in their thirties and forties, leaving young children behind. 

Pinky Maity, the youngest of the women at 26, is fighting for her life at the SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. Her eight-year-old son, Subharanjan, is staying at a neighbour’s house in the village. He said his mother took up the job after his father, who was working in the same unit, took ill. 

The house next to the illegal cracker making unit is that of Jayanti Maity. The 52-year- old woman said that Krishnapada Bag alias Bhanu Bag had offered work to her as well as her daughters-in-law.  “I had advised Minati against working there but she did not listen,” Jayanti Maity’s daughter-in-law Belarani Maity said.

Both women — Jayanti and Belarani — witnessed the blast at about 12 noon on May 16. “ The window panes of our house came crashing down. It was raining fire as objects from the factory were landing in the fields. We ran for our lives, leaving our cattle behind,” she said.