Fire victims’ kin wait for remains, fin help

Kolkata: A week after a fire ripped through two godowns at Nazirabad near Anandapur, families continue to wait for the mortal remains and death certificates of victims whose charred body parts were found at the site. Body parts of 27 people have been recovered till now but their identification through DNA mapping is yet to be done.Both the state and the Centre have announced Rs 10 lakh and Rs 2 lakh compensation, respectively, to the family of each victim. But they need death certificates to claim the amounts. For most of these families, the deceased were sole breadwinners.
Nayan Haldar, who lost his father Basudeb, said: "A week ago, my father was killed in the fire. But his body parts have not reached our Baruipur home and his last rites have not been performed. Last Wednesday, I gave blood at the Baruipur hospital for a DNA test. My college studies have not ended, and my mother and I depended solely on my father's income. We need financial help."Another victim, Rabish Hansda from Jhargram who worked for a private security agency in the city, was a security guard at one of the burnt godowns for the last three years. His elder brother Sunil said, "Rabish married in 2024 and his child is just two and a half years old. Who will take care of his wife and child? My own financial condition is not sound. Given this situation, we have to depend on the financial aid announced by the govt.""But even after a week, we are unable to hold the last rites because his body parts are yet to be identified. Cops told me the DNA mapping process is on, and I may get a call on Wednesday or Thursday for the handover of body parts," Hansda said.In the past week, the godown blaze site was cleared of the rubble and debris to make way for the forensic team to collect samples. On Saturday, the fire and emergency services team concluded their hunt for body parts as the recovery number tallied with that of the missing complaints. However, they did not rule out the possibility of more body parts being found since it is not clear exactly how many people were on the godown premises at the time of the inferno.A five-member SIT is interrogating three persons — Gangadhar Das, owner of Pushpanjali Decorators; Monoranjan Sit, manager of Wow! Momo's godown; Raja Chakraborty, deputy manager of Wow! Momo's godown. Narendrapur police are trying to determine which of two kitchens and a setup where utensils were kept inside the decorator company's warehouse was the point of origin of the fire.Investigators said the fire's source remains unknown, but it was confirmed that the blaze spread from within the decorator company's warehouse. Cops said pinpointing the exact origin site of the fire became difficult because of the size of the warehouse and the discovery of multiple cooking areas on the premises.Police sources said identifying the specific kitchen where the fire began is critical to reconstructing how the flames moved through the structure and into two consecutive warehouses. During the search, investigators found an earthen stove in a section of the warehouse and said there were indications that cooking took place on the night of the incident. On the morning of Jan 26, officials said they found burnt wood and pots in that area. The SIT is also questioning locals to check for fire-safety violations.