On Monday, a fire broke out in a multi-story building housing offices of the Railways at Kolkata’s Strand Road. According to ANI, the building’s 13th floor caught fire at 6.10 p.m., prompting the dispatch of eight fire tenders to the scene. The fire is said to have been started by a short-circuit.
The death toll from the fire has risen to nine, with two additional bodies discovered inside the building. The election is around the corner. Now, the politics have started over the Kolkata fire. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, slammed Indian railways, saying that no one came to the site and didn’t provide the map of the building. However, Railway officials said that they were present there and efforts were made to provide whatever was required.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal expressed his condolences over the tragedy and announced that a high-level investigation committee of four Principal Heads of Railway Departments has been formed to determine the cause of the fire. He expressed his sincere condolences to the families of the 9 brave people who died fighting the fire at the Eastern Railways Strand road office in Kolkata, including 4 firefighters, 2 railways personnel, and an Assistant Sub Inspector of Police (ASI).
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The state government has declared that the families of those killed in the fire would get Rs 10 lakh in compensation, as well as a government job for a relative of each victim. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also expressed his condolences and announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased, and Rs 50,000 to those who were seriously injured.
