While firefighters struggled to douse the flames inside the Writers’ Buildings, a middle-aged woman cried uncontrollably amid the debris. Basanti Saha, who works as a clerk at the municipal affairs department, begged the fire officials to allow her to enter the office.
When the officials inquired the reason, Saha told them that she had kept Rs 4,500, which she had saved from her salary, inside an office drawer.
Saha, the sole breadwinner of a family of three, has been working with the municipal affairs department for the last 18 years and gets a monthly salary of Rs 4,100. Her husband, Rabi Karmakar, is suffering from prostate and kidney problems and has not been able to work for the past few years. “I don’t like taking the money home as I invariably end up spending it,” she said.
On Thursday, when Saha reached office at 11.10 am and heard the news that her office had caught fire, she thought she would ‘die’.
“My drawer had my appointment letter, my service book and Rs 4,500 in cash. I was praying constantly. What if I lose the money? How will I arrange for the money again?” she recalled.
After the fire was brought under control, she was allowed to enter the office. With lot of apprehension she entered the room. “Everything around was gutted. I lost all hope,” she said.
When she reached her office she found that everything other than the four drawers on her desk were charred. “I opened the drawer and took out the money kept under a photo of Baba Lokenath. I cried. I have lost my parents, my husband is sick and my son is still in school. Baba Lokenath helped me today. I owe it all to him,” she told after emerging from the office.
A police officer who accompanied Saha said: “It’s a real miracle I have witnessed. Everything else was reduced to ashes except for these few drawers. God has indeed blessed her.”
An accident waiting to happen
* There is not a single reservoir of water inside the premises of Writers’ Buildings
* Age-old fire safety equipment like extinguishers are lying defunct
* Meshes of live electric wires are hanging dangerously in the premises
* There is no system of smoke alarm
* During the shift change, Writers’ Buildings remain unoccupied from 6 am to 7 am
* Only two night guards were present
* Firefighters complained of lack of space to move inside the affected portion of the building
* The premises is scattered with piles of debris. Even the corridors are choked with highly combustible debris
* A portion of the Writers’ Building has occupants who light up stoves inside the premises