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Death toll in Kolkata fire rises to 19; warehouse owner arrested for negligence
Gangadhar Das, owner of the warehouses, has denied any negligence on his part and described himself as a victim of the fire that broke out at Kolkata’s Anandapur.
The exact cause of the fire at the warehouses in Kolkata's Anandapur area remains unknown (Express Photo by Partha Paul).
As the death toll in the double-warehouse fire at Kolkata’s Anandapur has risen to 19, with several people still reported missing, the police have arrested the owner of the warehouses on the charge of causing death due to negligence.
The Narendrapur police arrested Gangadhar Das from the Garia area on Tuesday night. He is scheduled for a medical examination on Wednesday before being produced at the Baruipur Sub-divisional Court.
Das has denied any negligence on his part. Describing himself as a victim, he lamented that he had lost everything in his long-standing business. He claimed to the police that the fire had originated due to negligence at a nearby manufacturing plant.
However, no official source has confirmed the exact starting point of the blaze. The exact cause of the fire also remains unknown, but an investigation is underway.
A massive fire broke out around 3 am on January 25 at the twin warehouses at Nazirabad in East Kolkata’s Anandapur area. The fire continued to smolder through Monday and into Tuesday afternoon. Scattered body parts were found across the charred remains of the buildings.
It remains unclear exactly how many people were inside the warehouses at the time of the incident. While 20 people are officially missing, the police have yet to identify the recovered bodies. They said they would move the court for permission to conduct DNA tests to identify the deceased.
Based on a complaint from the fire department, the Narendrapur police registered a case of death due to negligence. Additionally, the police registered a suo motu case under the same charge.
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Questions have been raised about the fire safety measures at the gutted warehouses. During an inspection on Tuesday, Ranveer Kumar, Director General of Fire Services, revealed that the warehouses did not have any fire safety clearance. When asked how the facility had operated for so long without approval, Kumar admitted there might have been lapses within the department and promised an internal probe.
The role of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has also come under scrutiny. Responding to why no action was taken earlier, Kolkata Mayor and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim stated, “It is not right to shut down someone’s livelihood. If we did, you would be the ones raising questions.”
While several quarters allege that the warehouses were built by illegally filling wetlands, Hakim said he was unaware if the structures stood on a wetland, though he asserted that the administration would not permit wetland encroachment anymore.
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