Pulgaon: Demolition of ammo restarts with extra caution

Nagpur: Four weeks after the blast that left six persons dead at the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot (CAD), work has begun to clear the explosives remaining at the ground.
The Ordnance Factory Khamaria (OFK) had undertaken demolition of rejected 23mm anti-aircraft ammunition at Pulgaon. A blast occurred when a worker was carrying a box of ammunition to the pit, where it was supposed to be destroyed through controlled explosion.

The remaining boxes had remained at the ground after the accident. The Army had asked the OFK to do away with the remaining stock.

Five out of the six dead were contract workers engaged in lifting the boxes. The second round of demolitions, which began on Monday, is expected to last till Wednesday. This time no contract worker has been engaged. The ammunition is still being shifted by hand, though with extra caution.

The job is being done by CAD personnel, who are from the Army. Another exception is that instead of lifting boxes, individual rounds of ammunition are being taken to the pit where the demolition will take place, said sources. This is being done as an extra caution to avoid any fresh accident. So far the operation have been conducted safely, the source said.

In the meantime, OFK is exploring methods of doing away with explosives without human involvement. Recently, US company General Atomics had come up with a proposal for mechanical demolition of explosives. However, it is still at the proposal stage. The ordnance factory will have to go through the procedure of inviting bids to get the technology.

With the new technology, the explosive is dismantled and later destroyed through high speed water jet cutting. There would be different equipment for each calibre of ammunition. Another method is to bring down the temperature of the explosives to as low as minus 200 degrees and then destroying it. The ammunition is much safer at this temperature, the source said.

A decision is expected to be taken in due course. Demolition of ammunition takes place regularly at CAD. The Army destroys old ammunition when its shelf life is over. Last year, even the OFK entered the scene to demolish rejected rounds lying with it. It had borrowed the CAD demolition ground for the purpose.