Days after the Balanga police station in Puri district collapsed under the impact of an explosion, the Odisha police on Thursday directed all SPs not to store seized explosives in police stations henceforth.
“Explosive materials, corrosive substances and highly inflammable materials should not be kept ordinarily in the police station malkhana [store]. In the extreme cases, if it is necessary to keep those articles in the malkhana, the same shall be done only after due examination by bomb disposal squad or other specialised agencies with necessary precautions,” said the Crime Branch of Police.
“Awaiting the examination, such seized materials should be kept outside the malkhana after taking safety measures. In case it is not safe to keep such material at the malkhana, the assistance of the Bomb Disposal Squad and other specialised agencies be taken for diffusion or destruction of the same with due intimation to the jurisdictional court,”
The SPs have been instructed to send DSPs or sub-divisional police officers to visit all the police stations by October 5 and take steps for the safety of the malkhana.
