Kolkata, Apr 30 (UNI) The massive fire at a hotel in Burrabazar, located in the city’s central business district, has claimed 14 lives and left several others critically injured. However, this is not the first time the West Bengal capital has been ravaged by a deadly blaze. Over the past 15 years, the city has witnessed more than a dozen devastating fire incidents, resulting in deaths of dozens of people.

The deadliest fire incident in Kolkata’s history occurred on December 9, 2011, when a blaze at AMRI Hospital in Dhakuria, allegedly caused by a short circuit in a basement illegally used to store flammable materials, claimed 90 lives, mostly patients trapped inside as smoke rapidly spread through the ventilation system.

The incident occurred just a few months after Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister, following the Trinamool Congress's historic victory that ended 34 years of Left Front rule in the state.

The AMRI Hospital fire was not an isolated tragedy, but part of a recurring pattern that has, over time, turned the city into a metaphorical House of Lac. Just a year earlier, in March 2010, a devastating blaze at the Stephen Court building on Park Street claimed 43 lives.

The colonial-era structure, which housed both residential apartments and offices, caught fire following a short circuit in one of its lifts. The flames quickly engulfed the fifth and sixth floors, trapping many occupants. In a desperate attempt to escape, several people climbed onto narrow ledges along the building’s exterior, with many tragically losing their lives as they jumped out.

Though the government pledged to curb fire incidents — primarily caused by short circuits from outdated electrical systems — and introduced hefty penalties and strict punishments for building owners who failed to install proper fire safety measures, the recurring blazes across the city showed little sign of abating.

In February 2013, a massive fire swept through an illegal, congested market on Surya Sen Street — lacking basic fire safety measures — claiming 19 lives and critically injuring 17 others, most of whom were shopkeepers and labourers who lived there overnight.

There was a brief decline in fire incidents in the city, but the threat resurfaced in March 2021, when a deadly blaze broke out on March 8 in a multi-storey office building on Strand Road in central Kolkata, killing nine people, including four firemen, a police officer, a Railways officer, and a security guard, with preliminary investigations revealing that five of the victims, found inside a charred elevator on the 13th floor, likely died from suffocation and severe burns as the fire tore through the upper levels.

“We have imposed strict rules and imposed heavy penalties on the people who have violated the fire safety norms. We have also strengthened our safety standards so that we can rescue them as early as possible. This incident is unfortunate. We will surely look into it and if anyone is found guilty, he will be punished,” said Minister of State for Fire and Emergency Services Sujit Basu.
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