9 killed in Railway building fire in Kolkata; Goyal orders probe

The breakout of a massive fire at a multi-storied building in Kolkata, housing the Eastern Railway and South Eastern Railway zonal offices, resulted in the death of nine people on Monday evening, while computerised ticket booking in eastern India for train travel was also disrupted due to power disconnection.

Four of the seven deceased were firefighters, one assistant sub-inspector posted at the Hare Street police station and a RPF personnel, said Fire and Emergency Services Minister Sujit Bose. The seventh person is a senior Railways official.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has set up a high-level committee to ascertain the cause of the fire. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who rushed to the spot, announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for the families of those killed in the blaze and government job to the kin of each victim.

Bose said the fire broke out in the 13th floor of the New Koilaghat building on Strand Road around 6.10 pm on Monday. It could be brought under control only late in the night.

“We lost seven people. Four of them were fire fighters who lost their lives inside a lift which they used to reach upstairs quickly. The lift got electrocuted. This is very unfortunate,” said Chief Minister Banerjee.

She alleged not a single official of the Railways could be seen during the fire incident. “The building belongs to the Railways. But I’ve come to know that no one from Railways arrived reached the spot till now. Our fire department had asked for the building map from them in order to get inside the premises but there was no cooperation from them,” she said.

Manoj Joshi, General Manager Eastern Railway, said officers of Railways were present there and efforts were being made for whatever was required. “Maybe any map wasn’t made available immediately but the staff members of Railways were present to guide about the building,” he told news agency ANI.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal offered condolences to the families of the deceased and said that a high-level inquiry consisting of four principal heads of Railway departments has been ordered to ascertain cause of fire. “All possible assistance has been provided by Railways to the state government during this unfortunate fire accident,” he said.

Banerjee, however, said she does not want to indulge in politics with a mishap. She went to the SSKM Hospital where the bodies, which are in “very bad shape”, were sent for autopsy.

Meanwhile, computerised ticket booking was disrupted as power was disconnected due to the fire, an official said. The server room of the passenger reservation system of eastern India is housed at the building, he said, adding electricity was disconnected since the fire was reported, leading to disruption in ticket booking in the entire eastern zone, he said.

At least 20 fire tenders and two hydraulic ladders were pressed into service to douse the blaze at the building which also has a computerised ticket booking centre in the ground floor. The four firefighters who died in Monday’s mishap were identified as Girish Dey, Gourav Bej, Aniruddha Jana and Biman Purkayat, said a senior state government official.

(With inputs from agencies)