Sovan visits Sealdah bag shop gutted by fire

Fire broke out in a bag shop at Mahatma Gandhi Road, just beside Purabi Cinema Hall on Sunday afternoon. The fire-fighters faced a tough time dousing the flame as the area was congested even on a Sunday afternoon as the lanes are narrow.

State fire and emergency services minister Sovan Chatterjee visited the spot.

Police said eight fire tenders rushed to the spot, but the fire fighters could not reach the source of the fire.

"Black smoke was coming from the spot; the fire brigade officers broke the false ceiling of the shop and started to spray water inside. But the smoke was coming

out from the crack," said a fire brigade officer.

The bag-shop is situated at the ground floor of a building which is adjacent to Purabi Cinema hall.

The first floor is a lodge. The police and fire brigade officers evacuated the first floor. "I think nobody is trapped inside. The fire fighters and police rescued them all. The fire brigade department will probe the source of the fire," Chatterjee said.

"The electricity was disconnected by us. Later, some fire fighter reached above the false ceiling to break it. Later our officers manage to control the fire," the fire brigade officer said. However, vehicular traffic movements were completed stuck after the incident at MG Road. The traffic jam continued till the evening.

The fire fighters, meanwhile, found some similarity of this fire with the Girish Park fire incident. Fire broke out in a multi-storied building at Kolkata's Girish Park six months ago. The building, the house of many medium and small offices was almost empty during the time when the fire actually broke out.

The bag shop was closed. Black smoke was coming out from inside similar to Girish Park incident. Firefighters initially faced difficulties, but later managed the situation.