By IANS
Kolkata : A deafening explosion cracked a high-rise building in Kolkata’s crammed Burrabazar wholesale market Sunday night, triggering fears of the structure’s collapse, even as 30 army firemen joined in valiant battle to control the city’s worst fire in living memory.
Around 7.30 p.m. explosions were heard as flames leapt out and the fire spread further. The 14-storied building had already titled and the melting steel bars from the tremendous heat generated by the inferno could bring down the structure any moment, fire fighters and police feared.
The fire, which started in the wee hours of Saturday, continued to rage Sunday evening at the city’s biggest wholesale market, leaving one person dead of shock.
Thousands of shops and dwellings were engulfed in the fire, destroying property worth billions of rupees, officials said.
The blaze, which destroyed at least eight buildings, broke out at 1.15 a.m. Saturday in the Tirpalpatti and Nandaram complex of Burrabazar – eastern India’s largest wholesale market – and continued to rage despite the efforts of 42 fire tenders aided by the army, the air force and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
A trader of Burrabazar, Tej Narayan Baidya, died Sunday of a heart attack, as the police had to charge the angry mobs in the area with batons.
“The defence department assistance was requisitioned Saturday itself. We have entered the main building on the fire by fighting the inferno floor by floor. A team of 30 defence firemen is now fighting the blaze,” defence spokesman Cap. R.K. Das told IANS Sunday evening.
“They have reached the ninth floor of the Nandaram market building,” said Das, raising hopes of an end to the blaze.
But barely two hours later the situation only turned worse as the explosion cracked the building.
Amid fears of the building crashing, all residents of nearby houses were evacuated earlier.
“We fear for our fire fighting men. There is huge heat generated inside from the debris. We can hardly progress much,” West Bengal Fire Minister Pratim Chatterjee said.
“There are diesel barrels inside and the generator room has caught fire,” he said.
“Army and air force personnel are also working but it is not an easy task. It will take time. I cannot say when, because I am not an astrologer,” he said.
On Sunday, the fire brigade personnel were totally helpless as the fire went out of control, catching the higher floors of the Nandaram market building. They don’t have enough equipment to reach the high buildings to put out the blaze.
“The fire is raging on the top floors of the Keshoram block of the Nandaram market building. The building can come crashing down any moment,” said a resident. A part of the building has already collapsed.
The narrow crammed lanes of Burrabazar made the fire-fighting job difficult.
Traders of Burrabazar said about 2,500 shops, dealing in plastics, polythene and other inflammable materials, were gutted and losses could cross Rs.2 billion.
B.D. Mimani, secretary of the local trade organisation, said “99 percent” of the traders had not insured their shops and would have to rebuild their lives from scratch.
While the buildings burned, the traders and residents wailed as they lost everything in the fire. Angry residents and traders said the fire brigade men arrived late.
Said an angry trader of Burrabazar: “This fire will never end unless the army is called out fully. Helicopters should be pressed into service. The chief minister should hang his head in shame for not having a disaster management system. The ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) is holding a rally in Kolkata.”
Trader Ganesh Bhagat wept as he saw the blaze. “Everything I had was in those shops. They were my future, the future of my family. What will I do now?” Bhagat lost his three stores on the Jamunalal Bajaj Street, also known as Tirpalpatti because most of the shops deal in tarpaulin.
It was not clear how the early Saturday morning fire began but an electrical short circuit or sabotage is 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.
Burrabazar is the wholesale market area of Kolkata with clusters of unplanned and unauthorised constructions. The fire spread fast, fanned by a breeze and helped along by inflammables material like plastics, polythene and garments.