Hoshiarpur, Aug 24 (PTI) Four people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in illegally siphoning LPG from tankers, a racket unearthed during the probe into the tanker blast in Hoshiarpur’s Mandiala that claimed seven lives, police said on Sunday.
On Friday night, an LPG tanker caught fire after being hit by a pickup vehicle near Mandiala Adda on the Hoshiarpur–Jalandhar road and exploded, triggering a blaze that engulfed nearly 15 shops and several houses.
Two people, including tanker driver Sukhjeet Singh of Pandher Kheri village in Khanna, were killed in the incident while 21 others were injured. The death toll has since risen to seven, police said.
Hoshiarpur Senior Superintendent of Police Sandeep Kumar Malik said during investigation police found that the tanker driver was allegedly heading to the house of Sukhchain Singh alias Sukha of Ram Nagar Dheha, who was running an LPG siphoning racket in connivance with tanker drivers.
Sukhchain was arrested on Saturday, and 10 LPG cylinders along with a makeshift pipe were seized from his cattle shed. He admitted to siphoning four to five cylinders from tankers and selling them illegally for Rs 1,200–1,300 each after paying drivers Rs 1,000 per cylinder, police said.
Three others — Avtar Singh alias Mati of Jandi village in Hoshiarpur, and brothers Ramesh Kumar and Raj Kumar of Lamma Pind in Jalandhar — were also arrested. A godown linked to them near Mandiala yielded 40 cylinders, nine empty oil drums and siphoning pipes, police said.
A case has been registered under provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Essential Commodities Act and the LPG Supply and Control Order at Bullowal police station.
According to police, Avtar Singh has multiple FIRs against him since 1999.
Hoshiarpur Deputy Commissioner Aashika Jain said the death toll in the blast has climbed to seven, with 13 people still undergoing treatment. Three injured persons — Balwant Singh, Suman and Lali Verma — have been discharged.
Those killed were identified as Sukhjeet Singh, Balwant Rai, Dharmendra Verma, Manjit Singh, Vijay, Jaswinder Kaur and Aradhana Verma.
Jain said a magisterial inquiry has been ordered into the incident with the additional deputy commissioner appointed as the inquiry officer and directed to submit a report within 15 days.
A vigilance committee will also be set up to check LPG siphoning. Vehicle regulation panels and a special relief committee have also been formed to ensure safety and oversee rehabilitation.
The committee has been asked to submit its first report within five days.
To regulate the parking of heavy vehicles carrying hazardous material, the administration has also constituted vehicle regulation committees at the sub-divisional level, chaired by respective sub-divisional magistrates (SDM), she said.
These will work with the regional transport authority, police, Public Works Department (National Highways), and municipal bodies to identify sensitive spots, act under the Motor Vehicles Act, and mark safe parking zones.
For rehabilitation, a special relief committee has been formed under the SDM Hoshiarpur to oversee compensation, medical aid, and material support for victims.
On Sunday, several residents of Mandiala village staged a two-hour dharna, blocking the Hoshiarpur–Jalandhar road and demanding higher compensation for victims.
The protest led by former sarpanch Resham Singh and other villagers said the relief package was inadequate, pointing out that families of hooch tragedy victims in Amritsar were given Rs 10 lakh each, while kin of the Mandiala victims were initially offered only Rs 2 lakh.
“Innocent people lost their lives here, yet their families are being treated unfairly. Those injured and people whose houses and shops were gutted also deserve proper compensation,” a resident Harminder Singh said.
The victims’ families were struggling to rebuild their lives as several households lost breadwinners and small traders had seen their shops reduced to ashes, protesters said.
They pressed the government to release compensation at the earliest, saying delay would aggravate the hardship of the affected families.
Punjab Cabinet Minister Ravjot Singh later reached the protest site and pacified the crowd, assuring them that families of those killed would be given Rs 10 lakh each, while those injured would be given Rs 5 lakh each.
He also assured them that adequate compensation will be given for property loss, following which the blockade was lifted and traffic was resumed. PTI COR CHS OZ OZ
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