Eight persons died and three were injured when a bomb exploded in Chandipur range, District Balasore, Orissa during the test firing on the 26th July, 2002. On consideration of the reports and the material on record provided by the Ministry of Defence in response to NHRC's notices in the matter, the Commission observed that the 'BLINDS' which exploded and killed eight persons were picked up by them from the PXE range area, and it belonged to the Defence Research Development Organization, DRDO and no other agency.
The Commission noted that there was some negligence on the part of the Army Personnel in collection of the shells fired during the test firing at the range. Also there does not appear to be any proper arrangement for preventing access to the site by the villagers who gather used shells for extracting metal out of the same, and this is to the knowledge of the authorities concerned. In this scenario, duty of the DRDO officials becomes even more onerous to collect the unexploded material.
The Commission on the 19th October, 2010 recommended that DRDO, Ministry of Defence pay rupees three lakhs each as compensation to the next of kin of the eight deceased. The Defence Secretary has been asked to submit the compliance report along with proof of payment.