Major blaze in Kolkata's Bagbazar, 24 fire tenders at spot

At least 40 shanties were guttedas a major fire broke out at a slum in north Kolkata'sBagbazar area on Wednesday evening with firefightersstruggling for hours to bring the blaze under control,officials said.

At least 24 fire tenders were pressed into service asthe fire broke out at 6.55 pm in the Hazari Bustee on KshirodeVidyavinode Avenue beside the Bagbazar Women's College nearthe Chitpore Lock Gate Bridge, they said.

Several blasts were heard which police suspect tobe of gas cylinders at the shanties on fire, officials said.

There were no reports of any casualty as most of thepeople were evacuated on time, they said.

''The entire slum has turned into ashes. The situationis not under control as we are yet to reach the source of theblaze. We have shifted all the residents of the locality. Eventhose from the nearby highrises have been shifted to a saferplace as there were blasts. We cannot take any chance,'' anofficer of the Kolkata Police said.

The blaze also spread to the adjacent Sarada MayerBari as the firefighters escorted the monks out, an officerof the fire department said.

Disaster management teams of the Kolkata Police werealso deployed to tackle the blaze.

Locals alleged that firefighters reached the spot atleast an hour late, because of which the blaze went out ofcontrol.

A couple of police vehicles were vandalised, followingwhich a team of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed tocontrol the irate mob, the officer said.

Traffic movement on the Kshirode Vidyavinode Avenue aswell as the Chitpore Lock Gate Bridge, the lifeline of thepeople living in the northern fringes of the city, was totallystopped, leading to massive traffic snarls in the north andcentral Kolkata during the evening rush hours.

''We have also snapped electricity supply in the entirearea. There are at least 40 families whose houses have beengutted in the fire. A godown of books is also gutted,'' thepolice officer said.

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