Three live mortars found at Ram Darbar in Chandigarh

Three live bombs were found in the vegetable ground on Saturday morning in the Ramdarbar area in Chandigarh.

Cops cordoned off the area and the traffic on the adjoining roads, including Ram Darbar-Poultry Farm chowk road, was diverted. The Army was also informed about the recovery of live mortars.

The shells, each having a length of 6 inch to 7 inch, were spotted by a garbage collector, Pawan Kumar, around 6.30 am.

A team of Disaster Management, Chandigarh, comprising 18 personnel along with the defence personnel dig the ground for placing the shells. The shells were placed in an explosive-proof red drum and put in a ditch and covered with jutebags filled with sand.

A JCB machine was used for digging the ground. The operation was started around 7.30 am and explosive mortars were placed in the ditch by 11 am.

SP, Chandigarh, Niharika Bhatt, said, “We cannot say whether these shells are live or dead. For us, these are live and we requested the military authorities for defusing these shells. We are making efforts to ascertain the circumstances in which these shells reached this site. It is a serious matter. The human habitat is located just 100 metres away from this site. A DDR was lodged in this connection.”

Sanjeev Kohali, an officer with Disaster Management, UT, said, “As the location is identified, we will transport the shells and these will be defused. The process will be completed shortly. Defence authorities have received the permission from Ministry of Defence for this.”