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The fire broke out around noon on the first floor of the two-storied Readymade Center Private Limited on Station Road, Sodepur — 20 km north of Kolkata.
Some construction was going on in the floor and the Fire Department suspects that the welding work was responsible for the blaze. The sparks had landed on the tarpaulin sheets on the staircase, which caught fire. The blaze spread fast and the fire blocked the staircase, the only exit route, trapping around 50 people — staff, customers and construction workers — inside. Some tried to use the emergency exit, but its shutters were jammed and could not be opened from the outside either.
The personnel of four fire tenders “assisted by the police, had to break open the glass panels on the first floor for the rescue,” said Praveen Kumar Tripathy, ASP, North-24 Parganas.
Two women were among the deceased. One was a customer, Tulsi Bose. The other was Ranjana Saha, a relative of the owners. Two firemen and the owners of the shop —Narayan Saha, his brother Jeevan and son Rana — were among the injured.
“None of the bodies bore serious burns and it was obvious that most of the deaths occurred due to suffocation,” said Kaushik Chatterjee, a local involved in the rescue. According to Jyotisman Chatterjee, SDO, Barrackpore, the five critically injured peope have been admitted at the Panihati State General Hospital and Balram Seva Mandir. Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi has expressed grief over the loss of lives. Later in the evening, Finance minister Asim Dasgupta visited the spot. Fire minister Pratim Chatterjee said the owners Narayan and Jeevan Saha will be booked for carrying out welding work even as the shop was being run. The work, in fact, had been going on for the last few months.
My question to the so-called "representatives of people", the Ministers (particularly the Fire and Health Ministers) is " these accidents keep happening.. you have lost lots of lives, but what have you done to prevent further accidents from happening, apart from visiting these spots, and making some benevolent comments.. did you know that many people, including my uncle got stuck inside that shop when the shopkeeper pulled down the shutter, because he thought his goods were more valuable than the poor souls who got stuck inside ? Did you know my uncle was still alive after this accident, and he died in a hospital because there was no supply of oxygen cylinders to help him breathe ? did you know that ? If this incident had happened to you, or even your family Mr. Ministers, the govt would have taken ample steps to take care of you or your family, so that no one died.. because you are the govt.. Shame on you .. shame on you Mr. Ministers.. shame on you..
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