Minister in line of fire for Park Street inferno

Anger is replacing anguish a week after an inferno on the upper floors of Stephen Court, a landmark building on Kolkata's Park Street, killed over 40 persons.

Even as the structural and legal history of the century-old property is being revisited, a citizens' movement has been initiated demanding the state government to own responsibility for the disaster.

In particular, West Bengal fire minister Pratim Chatterjee's resignation has been sought, and his department is being flayed for responding too late and with too little.

“There was a functional failure in the manner in which the fire department responded. They were not only incompetent, but also ill-equipped. As an elected representative, the fire minister should take moral responsibility for the incident that has caused loss of so much material and lives. He should either resign or be sacked,” activist Mudar Patherya said.

 

He has alleged that telephone calls to the Fire Brigade on Free School Street, a short distance away from Stephen court, went unanswered; that the Fire Brigade team arrived with no water; that when the fire fighters commenced operations, they could not spray water beyond the second floor; that the Fire Brigade team did not press necessary sky lifts immediately; and that nets were not deployed by the firemen to cushion the fall on victims.

Patherya now intends to mount pressure on the state government by building public consensus, apart from holding a day and night vigil on the crossroads before Stephen Court later this week.

“There needs to be public accountability. After this incident, the people are seething. The minister must go,” he added. Even so, the removal of the minister would hardly lead to any systemic change, asserted Pradeep Kakkar of PUBLIC, a local non-governmental organisation. Instead, Kakkar plans on reviewing the prevailing situation across the city to devise simple and inexpensive fire prevention tools.

“It is physically impossible to respond to a situation in under five minutes. People should have an awareness that the first step is to prevent a fire. Subsequently, floor-plans should be made available and fire drills undertaken,” he explained.

Senior officials of the West Bengal Fire & Emergency Services, however, felt that they were being singled out.

“If fire safety measures are not adhered to and illegal constructions are undertaken, building are transformed into death traps. People are not aware of the fire safety requirements. Moreover, when the municipal authorities give permission to certain 'powerful people' and when they come to us for clearances, we cannot reject them,” an official said.

But that the fire department is lacking in terms of manpower and equipment is clear. Officials conceded that it was at least 30 per cent short of the required personnel strength and although the state finance department had given its nod, these positions were yet to be occupied.

“Yes, we need breaking and cutting equipment, cushions, nets and other such things. But who is going to handle these equipment when a fire breaks out? We just don't have enough people,” another official contended.

For the residents of Stephen Court, most of whom have been locked out of their homes for the past week, the blame must be equally shared between the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the landlord(s) of the property.

“The KMC and the landlord(s) are at fault. While the KMC kept giving trade licenses and allowed large offices to be established in what was primarily a residential building, for all practical purposes, the landlord(s) who took the rent should also be held responsible. Although we protested at the changes that were taking place, we were given false promises. And now, this has happened,” a resident said.

It is another matter that the exact ownership of Stephen Court is as murky as the municipal permissions that were granted for the regularisation of illegal extensions.

And while the city grapples with answers, those who doused the flames last Monday evening, are now in the line of fire.