Firefighters douse a fire which broke out in a congested market, at Khidirpur in Kolkata, Monday (June 16, 2025).
| Photo Credit: PTI
A massive blaze broke out in Kolkata’s Khidirpur area in the wee hours of Monday (June 16, 2025) and gutted hundreds of shops in the market area. 20 fire engines were rushed to the spot and the fire was controlled after hours of effort, but no casualties have been reported so far.
Locals have accused that the fire department was late respond to their distress calls which made the situation worse and spread the fire across the whole market. The locals said the fire started around 1 a.m., but the locals accused that the fire engines came after over an hour.
“All the shopowners are now sitting here helplessly, we have lost everything. This is a massive failure of the authorities. The fire gutted our lifetime of work,” a distressed shopowner said after his shop was burnt down in the massive blaze. He also accused that the fire engines were ill-prepared, many fire tenders did not have enough water. This sentiment was echoed by many shopowners present at the fire site.
Fire and Emergency Services Minister, Sujit Bose visited the spot and took stock of the situation. Mr. Bose refuted all claims that the fire engines were not prepared. He said that the narrow by lanes of the marketplace made firefighting difficult and that led to a longer rescue operation.
“Engines need to be rushed to the spot, it takes some time. Our workers risk their lives to save others. A lot of the shops also do not have proper safety measures, that also need to be accounted for,” Mr. Bose told mediapersons while assessing the damage on site.
Locals staged a protest when Mr. Bose reached the fire site on Monday morning.
Firefighters present on spot said that the fire was largely brought under control and that it would not spread any further.
Bharitya Janta Party West Bengal unit questioned the repeated fire incidents in Kolkata. “Fire Department Minister Sujit Bose is trying to shirk responsibility by claiming that most of these shops were illegal! Was the Kolkata Mayor unaware that illegal constructions were happening in his own area?” a statement on their social media handle X stated. They asked for a detailed investigation into the matter.
Only last month, a major fire at a hotel in the heart of Kolkata in the Burrabazar market area took the lives of 14 people. This has raised many questions about the fire safety measures and preparedness in the congested markets in the city. After this incident the Kolkata Municipal Corporation authorities and police conducted many fire safety inspections across the city.
Published – June 16, 2025 12:58 pm IST