By IANS
Kolkata : The inferno that engulfed a high-rise building in Kolkata’s Burrabazar wholesale market was brought under control Tuesday after four days of concentrated efforts by firemen, but the blaze continued to rage on the 11th floor of the building.
“We can say that 90 percent of the fire has been controlled,” West Bengal Fire Services Minister Pratim Chatterjee told reporters at the state secretariat.
“The remaining 10 percent would be controlled soon,” he said complimenting the firemen for their unrelenting efforts.
The firemen working on the spot hoped the blaze, which went out of control owing to huge stocks of inflammables stored in the building illegally, would be fully controlled by Wednesday afternoon.
An explosion took place in a block of the building during the day.
West Bengal Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said two inquiry committees would be set up to probe the cause of the fire and the legality of the constructions in the congested Burrabazar area.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee met West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and complained about inadequacies in the disaster management system in the megapolis.
“There is no disaster management system here. It is shameful. The (ruling) communists are talking of industrialisation but ignore the safety measures in a business hub that witnesses transactions worth billions,” she said.
Earlier in the day, West Bengal Fire Service principal officer Gopal Bhattacharya ruled out the fear that the 13-storied building might collapse.
“We were able to bring the fire under total control Tuesday morning. There is no possibility of the building, which had tilted to its left, collapsing,” Bhattacharya told IANS.
“At least 34 fire engines are still engaged in dousing the flames smouldering inside, especially in the upper floors of the Nandaram market building,” he said.
Chunks of the building were falling off, turning the entire area into a danger zone for onlookers, mediapersons, policemen and firemen.
A long hydraulic ladder was brought in Monday night from Haldia, about 125 km from here.
“We have used a very tall and sophisticated ladder from Haldia Petrochemicals and it is now being used to douse the flames,” Bhattacharya said.
A lone sky-lift ladder of the fire department was earlier trying to fight the blaze that proved too powerful to be tamed while a 30-member team of army firemen joined their civilian counterparts to combat the inferno.
There were reports of the army personnel leaving in a huff over differences with the civilian fire brigade. Two army fire engines, however, were seen reaching the spot Tuesday morning.
On Monday, journalists of national and local television channels which were covering the blaze were attacked by a mob and their equipment damaged. Some journalists were hospitalised.
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.
A trader, Tej Narayan Baidya, died Sunday of a heart attack after having lost his belongings.
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.
Meanwhile, industrialist B.K. Birla and his wife Sarala Devi visited the fire-ravaged site and announced a donation of Rs.20 million as immediate help to the affected people.
It was not clear how the fire began but an electrical short circuit is suspected, though police officials were not ruling out arson.
The blaze, which had engulfed at least eight buildings, broke out at 1.15 a.m. Saturday in the Tirpalpatti market and the adjoining Nandaram complex.
Burrabazar is the wholesale market area of Kolkata with clusters of unplanned and unauthorised constructions.