Fire breaks out in meter box of nationalised bank

Kolkata: Tension was sparked off after a fire broke out at the meter box of a nationalised bank branch at Jodhpur Park on Friday afternoon.

The fire broke out at around 1 pm when only a few customers were inside the bank.

The bank officials evacuated the branch immediately after the alarm of the fire outbreak sounded and informed the Fire department.

The bank is situated at the ground floor of a five storeyed residential building at Poddar Nagar under Lake Police station area. The meter box is situated at the ground floor and the staircase leading to the residents' apartments is just adjacent to it.

Two fire tenders rushed to the spot immediately and brought the fire under control in less than half-an-hour.

The CESC snapped the power connection in the entire building to prevent any untoward incident.

The residents of the building alleged that the bank did not have proper firefighting equipment.

They were involved in angry verbal exchange with the bank officials.

However, the police managed to cool their tempers.

A senior Fire department official said: "The fire broke out probably due to a short circuit. Forensic probe will be conducted to ascertain the actual reason.

"We will conduct an enquiry to find whether there was any negligence on the part of the bank authorities."

The extent of damage was negligible as informed by the bank officials.

A small fire was reported from a community Kali Puja pandal at Parnashree in Behala on Thursday night.

The locals managed to extinguish the fire that resulted probably from fireworks. The damage to the pandal was negligible.