Over 1300 shops have been destroyed in a massive fire early on Monday in Kolkata’s Khidirpur market area. The fire broke out around 1 am on Monday. More than 20 fire tenders brought the blaze under control. According to the fire department, various shops, including rice godowns, have been destroyed.

There are several oil godowns and warehouses/shops having combustible goods in that area which caused the fire to spread at a rapid pace, informed the local residents and shopkeepers. Also, the area is congested, which made dousing the fire even more difficult and it kept burning in several pockets till Monday morning.

No casualties reported so far

No casualties in the incident have been reported yet.

“Fortunately, the fire broke out at a time when there were hardly any people in the market area. Had the fire broken out in the daytime, there could have been several casualties. However, we fear that the value of the loss of property and assets because of the fire is huge,” a fire department official told media.

“The problem that is now being faced by the fire-fighters is identifying the hidden ‘fire pockets’ and bringing them under control, following which it could be said that the situation is totally under control. After the task of identifying and deactivating the hidden ‘fire-pockets’ is over, the cooling process will start,” he further said.

Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose says allegation by locals ‘baseless’

West Bengal Minister of Fire and Emergency Services, Sujit Bose, visited the spot and assured all necessary help. The minister further alleged that several shops in the area have been set up illegally without permission of the municipality, and neither do they follow fire safety norms, which has made the area congested and dousing the flames difficult.

Local residents have alleged that the delay in the arrival of the fire tenders increased the severity of the fire. A shopkeeper claimed, “First, the fire tenders reached late. Secondly, the vehicles that reached first did not have enough water. Thereafter, arrangements were made to pump water from the nearby flowing stream of the River Ganges. All these delayed the process to a great extent.”

Minister Sujit Bose dismissed these claims, saying, “This is a baseless allegation. Since the requirement of fire tenders in this case was more, these vehicles reached the spot from multiple locations like Watganj and Garden Reach. The firefighters are risking their lives to bring the situation under control.”

“At the same time, the owners of the shops were also negligent in adopting fire safety norms. I am not trying to blame anybody. But we will be investigating the matter,” the minister further said.