West Bengal: FIR Filed Against Hotel Owners After Fire Claims 14 Lives In Burrabazar

Kolkata: Ranbir Kumar, DG, Fire Department on Wednesday confirmed that the hotel in Burrabazar where devastating fire erupted late Tuesday evening claiming 14 lives and left several injured didn’t take NOC from fire department after 2022.

“Fir has been done against the owners. There was no alert when the fire erupted as the fire alert system was non-functional. NOC was not renewed after 2022,” said the DIG.

Fire and Emergency Service minister Sujit Bose said along with the owners, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will also have to take the onus of the calamity.

“KMC, police should look into the matter. We will take strong action against such a devastating incident,” mentioned Bose.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma said, “14 casualties have been reported so far. An SIT has been formed to probe the cause of the fire and to check the safety measures that were in place.”

Notably, after the fire was noticed in the hotel at Burrabazar on later Tuesday evening several people tried to escape from windows as smoke engulfed the entire area and most of the deaths happened due to suffocation.

Neha Agarwal who survived the calamity confirmed that she, her husband and one nephew were stuck in the room when few other relatives who were downstairs informed them about the fire.

“There was absolutely no fire alarm. After we were informed about the fire, we saw it was just smoke all over. We were on the fourth floor of the hotel. Somehow we had broken the window glass and jumped outside the room and were standing on the sunset for over two hours when a hydraulic ladder came for our rescue.

Meanwhile, locals complained that an illegal dance bar was being constructed on the first floor where all the fire alert systems were defunct.

“There are two schools in the area and temples in the area. We don’t know how the owners got the permission to build a dance bar inside the hotel. Due to the ongoing construction work the windows of the first floor of the hotel are blocked,” complained most of the local people.

Reacting to the incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi while expressing his condolences, wrote on X, “Anguished by the loss of lives due to a fire mishap in Kolkata. Condolences to those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover soon. An ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) however, blamed the state administration for the incident.

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