Promoted Inferno:Fire guts Kolkata markets, spreads to multi-storeys

Palash Biswas

Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
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The blaze was still raging midday Saturday, and officials say they don't yet know how many people have been affected!Around 2,500 shops and several buildings housing tarpaulin and cloth shops were gutted, fire brigade sources said.Shortage of water supply from the nearby Mullickghat pumping station to the area due to power cut compounded the problem for firefighters, the sources said. The inadequacy of the fire fighting system in this eastern metropolis was laid bare, as the army, air force and the airport authorities had to be called in to control the blaze. It was not clear how the early morning fire began but electrical short circuit was reported to be a possible cause. The flames spread across the area engulfing buildings, burning markets. A thick umbrella of noxious fumes covered the sky.

West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi also reached the spot while Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharaya supervised the fire fighting for a while.

'People trading or living here never think of danger. There is no arrangement of water while the fire brigade does not have ladders tall enough,' said Bhattacharya.

As the authorities struggled to contain a devastating fire at the Burrabazar wholesale market that gutted over 2500 shops, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the West Bengal government of failing to have a proper disaster management mechanism. Claiming that sabotage could not be ruled out, she wondered whether the fire was to evict people. "It has been seen that such fires occur only on Saturdays and Sundays.

"Political leaders are coming here to be photographed, while none is bothered about the fact that the fire brigade arrived three hours late," she said.

The blaze left thousands of people homeless! Police and fire officials say a huge fire raged through a market in the east Indian city of Calcutta early Saturday, causing no casualties but destroying more than 1,000 shops and homes.While all shops in the area have been vacated, a large crowd of traders and spectators gathered on the streets. Traders in the area watched helplessly for hours as firemen struggled to bring the fire under control.

Angry residents and traders said the fire brigade men came late! The fire broke out at around 1.30 a.m. at Tripalpatti, a wholesale market for plastic tarpaulin, on Jamunalal Bajaj Street, possibly from a short circuit. West Bengal Fire Minister Pratim Chatterjee said the traders who had stored flammable articles illegally in the congested area were responsible for the inferno.

"In an old city like Kolkata, we perhaps cannot prevent this but unlike in many such fire incidents in Mumbai, here we have been able to save human lives," he said.

While the buildings burned, the traders and residents wailed as they lost everything to the fire.!

It is quite a ritual in the growing Metroes, megacities, suburbs and cities of importance in Shining Sensex India with Nano Technology of Hightech NRI Ruling Hegemony supported by Money Mafia and Media. Urbanisation and Industrialisation continue as continues the process of Eviction and depopulation!Burrabazar is the wholesale market area of Kolkata with clusters of unplanned and unauthorized constructions. The fire spread fast, fanned by a breeze and helped along by inflammables like plastics, polythene and garments.

Fires are common in India where safety regulations are often flouted. In Kolkata, Most of the Fire Incidents ocuur on Weekend! Why? Otherwise it is quite Occasional in festival seasons.Burrabazar has become a notorious place of Eviction and Promoterraj via Fire Incidents. The State Machinery helps this mechanism of infrastructural displacement and capture Economy with inherent Inactivity. The Great Ganges follows some hundred Meters away but these Fire Ocurrances are never controlled until and unless targeted depopulation takes place. Big Bosses have the Insurance coverace and thousands avenues to be compensated. But the small traders and tenants have no scope to reaccomodate in the economy, business, livelihood and life! Tata`s joy Ride in Nano, the Lakh takia car has been superimposed in the psyche of the masses with Media Boom! Buddha gestapo has every reason to justify the ways of Marxist capitalist Ways of development! In Fact, Metro Kolkata is geared up to witness a Historical Brigade rally only tomorrow to Celebrate Nandigram Singur Victory. The Genocide master of Marichjhanpi fame, Jyoti Basu is recommended to get Bharat Ratna. Here you are, it was an auspicious occassion for a Promoted Inferno right into the Heart Of Kolkata!

'The whole situation is sad. There is no disaster management system in place here. If anything happens in the middle of night in Kolkata there is hardly any infrastructure to mitigate it,' said Trinamul Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the spot.

'Again mysteriously the fire occurred on a Saturday night. I am clueless why all such fires in market areas occur on weekend nights. Is there a plan behind it to evict people?' asked Banerjee, not ruling out sabotage behind the incident.

A fire that broke out in a market in Kolkata's crammed Burrabazar area in the wee hours on Saturday spread across the area engulfing eight homes, including multi-storeyed buildings, leaving thousands homeless in the heart of the metropolis. Burrabazar, the famous Kolkata wholesale market area with congested clusters of unplanned and unauthorised constructions in the north-central zone, turned into an inferno of flammable plastics, polythene and garments, but no casualty was reported, police said.

"At least eight buildings are engulfed in fire and six have been affected very badly. A 15-storied house also caught fire," a fire brigade official said.

"At least 42 fire engines are fighting to put out the blaze. The fire is yet to be brought under control. We are trying our best but there was initially a problem of availability of water," Kolkata Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty said.

"We have no report of any casualty. No one was trapped inside. We ensured that. We had to ferry the water initially but now that problem was solved," Chakraborty said.

Local MP Sudhangshu Sil said efforts were on to bring fire-fighting equipment from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport to fight the blaze, which covered the area in a thick umbrella of noxious smoke.

Defence sources said that two fire tenders each from the Army and the Air Force were also sent to the spot following a request from the state government.

Stating that ladders of 52 metre height were being used to fight the blaze, the Fire Services Minister said, that although these were the second highest air ladders in the world, those're only meant for rescue purposes.

The congestion of the roads and lack of proper building plans of the fire-engulfed buildings were adding to the problem, Chatterjee claimed.

Police said all buildings in the area were evacuated as a precautionary measure and the Mahatma Gandhi Road, connecting Howrah station with the Sealdah Terminus, has been closed to traffic.

The West Bengal BJP demanded a CBI probe into the Burrabazar fire and immediate dismissal of the Fire Services Minister Pratim Chatterjee.