Senior jourlist injured while bursting firecrackers

From our Correspondent

TINSUKIA, Oct 22: At a time when the public responded overwhelmingly to the call to boycott Chinese firecrackers in order to give fillip to indigenous Barpeta firework industries, an incident in Kakopathar in Tinsukia district on Friday where a senior jourlist sustained fatal burn injuries, has raised the question as to how safe are Barpeta fireworks?

According to reports, Parag Bhuyan, president of Kakopathar Press Club, executive member of Tinsukia District Jourlists’ Association and a local correspondent of an Assamese daily, while trying to ignite a kolgos made in Barpeta, was critically injured after it exploded.

He sustained severe burn injuries on his face, hands and legs. He is undergoing treatment at a nursing home in Dibrugarh. The local public has demanded a high-level inquiry to unearth the reason for explosion. A team led by Anuj Kalita, president of TDJA, visited the hospital on Saturday. Parag Bhuyan is the younger brother of former minister Jagadish Bhuyan.