About 7 shanties gutted in blaze, train services disrupted; none hurt

Train services were suspended for about one and a half hours at the Sealdah South Section after a massive fire broke out at a slum adjacent to the railway track between Jadavpur and Dhakuria Railway stations on Wednesday afternoon.

At least seven shanties and huts were gutted in the inferno. Fortunately, no injury was reported in the incident.

According to sources, around 1:10 pm on Wednesday a fire broke out at a hut in a slum locally known as ‘Rail Bastee’ near Dhakuria Railway Station.

Within 20 minutes seven fire tenders were reportedly pressed into action in phases.

According to the Eastern Railway (ER), due to the incident, slum dwellers came onto the railway track and train services had to be halted.

However, the railway authority had sent a team consisting of engineering and security staff of ER to the spot for inspection.

After inspection, the engineering staff gave clearance but services remained suspended as people were found roaming on the tracks.

The fire was controlled around 2 pm. After that normal train services in the section resumed at 2:26 pm. Due to the incident, five pairs of EMU locals were cancelled. As a result, a good number of passengers faced trouble while commuting. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, said sources.