A blast occurred at the Naqueri-Betul warehouse, which was storing gunpowder and is linked to a Verna-based company, on Thursday night. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, and an investigation is currently underway.
The issue regarding the warehouse's NOC dates back to 2019, when it was initially raised, but we refused to provide approval, said a local resident. Following this, the warehouse team sent a reminder. The resident further stated that they were always opposed to the warehouse due to safety concerns for the neighboring villages.
The Sarpanch of Nakeri, Betul, confirmed that the panchayat had not granted permission for the warehouse when approached in 2019. The panchayat body had outright denied the request for setting up the warehouse.
Abishek Desai, another local, described the situation as chaotic, stating, "We didn’t know exactly what was happening at that time." He explained that the mud in the area was still collapsing, and stones from the site had fallen about 600-700 meters, landing on people's homes near the accident site.