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Bengal

Fire audit of unaffected blocks to be conducted at Bagri Market: Hakim

Kolkata: In his first visit to the Fire Directorate on Mirza Ghalib Street after taking over as the state Fire minister, Firhad Hakim made it clear that fire audit will be conducted for all the blocks at Bagri Market, which have not been damaged by the fire that broke out

in September.

"We will carry out fire audit of five blocks at the market which remained unaffected in the major fire. Fire licences will be issued to the traders only after we get a nod from the audit team," Hakim said.

"IIT Roorkee which inspected Bagri Market right after the incident of fire has already given its clearance to the five unaffected blocks. It is yet to give clearance to the one block that was severely affected. The senior engineers of KMC and Fire department will visit IIT Roorkee and discuss the issue with the latter following which we will decide on its fate," the minister said. The minister claimed 100 percent debris of the damaged market place has

been cleared.

He also announced that the Fire department will develop a fire station at Burrabazar area and develop the infrastructure so that water from River Ganga can be brought through a pipeline to ensure uninterrupted availability of water during a fire breakout. This issue will be taken up with the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT).

Talking about modernization plans, the minister said a proposal will be soon forwarded for the recruitment of women fire fighters. "We are procuring as many as 100 motorbikes with fire fighting infrastructure so that fires on narrow lanes and bylanes can be addressed efficiently," Hakim added.

Immediately after taking charge of the Fire department, Hakim had maintained that fire audit will be compulsory for the high-rises, shopping malls, market complexes and business establishments of similar nature once in a year. Malls and market places might also lose their right to do business if they don't conduct the audit every year. Fire drills have also been made mandatory every three months.

He also announced that all the fire stations will be connected through GPS system so that if there is any distress call at 101 the nearest fire station can respond at

the earliest. The Fire department is also thinking of developing logistic park adjacent to the markets so that people can collect goods from there. This will reduce the burden of combustible substances in

the market.

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