M A I N   N E W S

20 die in Kolkata blaze
Subhrangshu Gupta/TNS

Kolkata, February 27
A devastating blaze engulfed a five-storey market complex housing shops storing mainly plastics and paper in the Sealdah area of the city today, leaving 20 persons dead and 10 others injured. The fire was detected at 3.50 am in the 25-year-old Surya Sen Market complex housing a godown-cum-office complex when the victims, mostly labourers working in the market, were sleeping.

Trapped in inferno The fire was detected at 3.50 am in the 25-year-old Surya Sen Market complex housing a godown-cum-office complex when the victims, mostly labourers working in the market, were sleeping Since all five exit gates were closed from outside, the victims got trapped and could not come out in time Also, the staircase of the market complex was blocked with goods making it difficult for the people to escape

Since all five exit gates were closed from outside, the victims got trapped and could not come out in time. Also, the staircase of the market complex was blocked with goods making it difficult for the people to escape.

Fire officials said plastics, paper and cloth were stored in the godown. The ground floor and the first floor of the complex, which sustained the maximum damage, housed 200 shops.

The cause of the fire is not yet known. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who visited the place soon after the incident, did not rule out the possibility of a sabotage. The owner of the complex was arrested under non-bailable offence.

This is the third major fire in the city in the last two years. Earlier, a blaze at Park Street’s Stephen’s Court on March 23, 2010, had claimed 97 lives. In December 2011, 188 persons had died in an inferno at Amri Hospital.

A wailing relative of one of the victims. — PTI

Mamata has ordered a high-level inquiry into the incident and asked the officials concerned to hand over the report to her in three days. “A compensation of Rs two lakh will be paid to the kin of those who died in the fire and Rs 50,000 to those injured,” she said.

The Chief Minister urged people sleeping in the market in the night to be more careful and take precautionary measures like not lighting a fire near inflammable materials.

Fire services minister Javed Khan alleged the market complex was illegal and unauthorised. The building also did not have minimum fire-fighting arrangements. The building had been declared unsafe and the fire brigade department had told the Municipal Corporation to immediately demolish it. But for some reasons, the orders weren’t executed.

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who accompanied the Chief Minister to the spot, however, refused to make any comment. Fire officials, who conducted the rescue operation, alleged that the electricity system inside the building was in total disarray.