No fire NOC, but trade licence renewed in July

KOLKATA: A high-power committee headed by mayor Sovan Chatterjee, who’s also the state fire minister, had on July 31 issued a trade licence to Bagri Market, even though it had failed to adhere to fire safety rules and obtain a fire NOC.


Though the rules allow the KMC to scrap annual trade licences of establishments that do not have the fire NOC, records indicate that the civic body did not hold back the trade licences even though 35 major markets across the city, including Bagri Market, had failed to adhere to fire safety norms.

The meeting only took note of the fact that the

Kolkata Municipal Corporation

(KMC) licence department had slapped a notice on Bagri Market for its fire safety noncompliance and told the building owners, traders and

trade association

that they would be held liable for any fire hazard. The trade licences were renewed after that. A copy of the minutes of the meeting is with TOI.



Even on Saturday night — a few hours before the blaze — some traders had discussed this issue with the building management. They had even offered to pay for proper fire safety measures.

A source said that at a meeting on June 30, held to take a decision on renewal of trade licences of 37 buildings and establishments across Kolkata, including the Bagri Market, for 2018-19, it was informed that the Burrabazar market was among the 35 buildings that were served notice for not adhering to fire safety norms. Unlike 10 other buildings that submitted an undertaking to KMC to ramp up their fire safety measures within the year-end, owners of Bagri Market reportedly didn’t give any such undertaking.

Curiously, the minutes of the meeting indicate that trade licences were held back in only two cases out of the 37 buildings and establishments. These were for a building on 34, Armenian Street and Taparia House on 42/1 Strand Road. The reason — KMC had failed to issue them a notice for lack of fire safety NoC.

At the same meeting, sources said, trade licences for guest houses, boarding houses (with or without kitchens) were released only after an undertaking to upgrade fire safety measures were submitted.

Bagri Market Central Kolkata Traders Welfare Association secretary Debabrata Das said, “After the Nandaram market fire in 2008, there were a lot of inspections. We had then, along with the building management, decided to put in place all fire safety measures. All traders here had then paid Rs 40 per square feet on a one-time basis to set up reservoirs, hydrants, sprinklers and even fire alarms.” But these were never maintained.

A trader also said that during a fire at the adjacent Amratola Lane in January 2017, water from the Bagri Market

reservoir

was used to douse the flames. This reservoir, sources claimed, could not be used on Sunday since it had dried up.

The fire minister, who along with city police commissioner Rajeev Kumar, supervised the fire-fighting operations, said, “No fire safety measures were in place at the building. I have urged police to take appropriate action.”

On why the

fire department

chose to remain silent over the lack of fire safety NOC, DG (fire services) Jagmohan refused to answer. “Our priority now is to douse the flames completely. I’m not able to comment for I didn’t have the time to go through the concerned files in this regard. Appropriate action will be taken for any non-compliance,” the fire services DG told TOI.

Das said, “The building has everything from reservoirs and hydrants to firefighting gadgets. None of these worked today. The fire extinguishers have crossed their expiry dates.”

Ashutosh Singh, a senior member of the traders’ body, said, “We had repeatedly urged the owners to carry out training or fire drills. There was no fire inspection either.”


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