Fire at food plaza in Howrah Station, none injured

A fire broke out at the old food plaza complex in Howrah station on Friday morning triggering panic among the passengers.

Police said that the staff members of the food plaza situated at the Howrah station spotted the fire in the kitchen and informed the matter to the fire brigade. The employees of the food plaza initially tried to extinguish the fire but failed to do so as smoke was emanating from the spot of the incident.

After being informed, the Government Railway officials and Railway Protection Force rushed to the spot immediately after the incident. They cordoned off the entire area to prevent any untoward incidents.

Five fire tenders were pressed into action to douse the flame. The food plaza sees a large number of footfalls as passengers often prefer to have food from it. The fire tenders brought the situation under control within a couple of hours. No casualty was reported.

Police said that the kitchen of the food plaza had caught fire at around 6.10 am on Friday.

The staff members spotted the smoke billowing out of an air-conditioning machine. The area was soon covered by thick smoke. People started running for a safer place. No one was injured as there were no customers at the food plaza that early in the morning.

Senior Railways officials rushed to the spot and inspected the food plaza. They will submit a report to the Railways in this regard.

According to the preliminary investigation, the fire officials and police suspect that an electrical short- circuit might have led to the fire.

It was learnt that there was no adequate fire fighting mechanism in the complex and hence the fire had soon spread. The Railways authorities have initiated an investigation in this regard.

According to a senior official of the Railways, action will be taken against the food plaza authority if any negligence was found on their part.

Railway officials have also said that the incident had no impact on the Railway services.

The fire department has also started an inquiry to examine if there was adequate fire safety mechanism installed at the food court. They are yet to ascertain the exact cause of the fire and the extent of the damage.