Assam: Army mortar shell falls on house after misfire from firing range, narrow escape for family

A family in Assam's Tamulpur district had a narrow escape after a mortar shell from an army firing range fell on their house. 

The incident happened today at Paharphur close to the Indo-Bhutan border where a mortar shell reportedly misfired from an artillery gun in the Sukanjuli Firing Range of the army, during a practice session. The artillery gun apparently lose control and fired the mortar in a wrong direction where one of the mortar shell pieces landed on the house of one Sanu Subba. 

The mortar piece tore through the roof and fell inside the house. The family had a narrow escape as the mortar did not explode and they quickly made their way out of the house. Thankfully, nobody was injured in the incident. Interestingly, the family has refused the compensation that the army personnel had offered to them earlier today. 

"We were sitting in the verandah when it happened. We realised when it tore through our tin roof. We all ran for our lives. We were seven to eight people here at that time. We all had a narrow escape and thankfully nobody was hurt. The army has said that they would give us money as compensation. We have refused. If someone dies then they cannot do anything then. Hence we decided that we dont want any money," said a member of the family. 

The incident has also raised a lot of concern among the locals of Paharphur and now they have demanded that the army must change the direction of its firing range so that mortar does not fell on civilian areas. 

"We the people are demanding from the administration that the direction of the firing range must be changed so that mortars dont fall on the houses of people. if something happens in the future then we will be forced to take legal action. The target direction has to be changed," said a local person. 

Locals of Paharphur have stated that such incidents have happened earlier also in the area. It was stated that army personnel have stated earlier that the direction of the target practice would be changed, but so far nothing seems to have happened in this regard.