Need to probe reason behind fire breakouts on weekends: WB

A day after the massive blaze at Bagree Market in the city was brought under control, West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said Thursday the state would order a probe to find out the reason behind major fire breakouts in the city on weekends, not weekdays.

A massive fire erupted early Sunday at Bagree Market in Burrabazar area the commercial hub of Kolkata gutting over 1000 business establishments. The firemen took around 85 hours to douse the flames.

Chatterjee, who is also the chairman of the group of ministers (GoM) formed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to look into the emergencies during her Europe tour, said the stakeholders "should have abided by safety rules and regulations".

"We fail to understand why major fire breaks out on Saturdays and goes out on Sundays. Such breakouts do not happen on Mondays. We must look into this aspect," Chatterjee told reporters at the state secretariat after a GoM meeting, apparently hinting at a sabotage angle in the Bagree blaze.

The minister held the businessmen at Bagree Market responsible for the incident.

"It is unfortunate that the traders completely forgot about the security aspect while setting up businesses at the market," he said.

Meanwhile, a team of forensic experts visited the gutted building in the morning to collect samples from the site for ascertaining the cause of the fire.

"We are looking for the possible source of ignition. We have sampled petrol vapour inside. We need to find out why the fire took such a massive shape," an officer of Kolkata Police forensic department said.

Two major disasters have shaken the metropolis in a span of two weeks.

While three people were killed in a bridge collapse incident in Majerhat, in the southern part of the city, the Bagree Market fire snuffed out businesses worth crores of rupees ahead of the festive season.

State Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim Thursday took stock of the condition of nine arterial bridges and flyovers in the city, including Bijan Setu and Dhakuria Bridge.