Biscuit factory, storehouse gutted in fire at Foreshore Road

A biscuit factory and a storehouse were gutted in a fire that broke out near the bungalow of the Commissioner of the Howrah City Police off Foreshore Road late night on Tuesday.

There was another incident of fire on Wednesday morning at Kishore Bharati Stadium in Survey Park where fire broke out in artificial grass which was dumped in a ground adjacent to the stadium.

According to firefighters, the fire in Howrah initially broke out in a storehouse where plastic materials were stored.

Preliminary investigation revealed that electric short circuit led to the fire. With heavy gush of air from river Hooghly, which is situated close to the Nityadhan Mukehrjee Lane where the fire broke out, helped the fire to spread fast.

Within a few minutes, the fire spread to the biscuit manufacturing unit situated adjacent to the storehouse.

Eighteen fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames and fire fighters took around four hours to extinguish the fire. Water was also pumped in from river Hooghly to douse the flames.

The state Fire and Emergency Services minister Sovan Chatterjee, the state Cooperation minister Arup Roy, Mayor of Howrah Municipal Corporation Rathin Chakraborty and Commissioner of Howrah City Police Devendra Pratap Singh visited the spot.

Chatterjee said: “There are many factories in the congested area and we have to see what action should be taken against such activities.”

It may be mentioned that it was the second incident of fire in Howrah in the past 48 hours.

On Monday, several shops were gutted when a fire broke out at Belilious Road.

There was another incident of fire at Kishore Bharati Stadium. Grass turf, which were dumped on an open ground adjacent to the stadium, had caught fire and resulted to panic in the area.

Fire fighters suspect that the fire broke out when someone, who came to visit the place, had thrown lit cigarette butt on the turf.

Three fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. The area, where the fire broke out was cordoned off, and fire fighters took around an hour to extinguish the fire.