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The toll successful the Anandapur warehouse occurrence successful Kolkata rose to 8 connected Tuesday (January 27, 2026). Senior officials of the West Bengal Department of Fire and Emergency Services said a occurrence clearance certificate had not been obtained by the warehouse. About 18 people are inactive missing successful the tragic incident.
“There was nary occurrence clearance, [of] that we are certain. Rest volition beryllium recovered successful further investigation. We will definitely file FIRs (First Information Reports) due to the fact that determination were violations,” Ranvir Kumar, Director General, West Bengal Department of Fire and Emergency Services, told mediapersons on Tuesday astatine the tract of the tragedy.
Regular occurrence inspections and audits had been carried out, and they would travel each ineligible steps to bring justice, Mr. Kumar said.
The charred bodies of the deceased are yet to beryllium identified. Family members of the deceased and missing radical gathered astatine the site, looking for answers.
Fire and Emergency Services Minister Sujit Bose said that the Anandapur country was congested with aggregate structures, and permissions for occurrence extortion had not been obtained. “We will see if fire audits were conducted in this place. We conduct audits every month, but we cannot be certain right present if this spot had a occurrence audit,” Mr. Bose said.
“We are not capable to reach anyone. The idiosyncratic helium utilized to enactment nether is besides unreachable,” a household subordinate of a missing idiosyncratic said.
Members of the ruling enactment arsenic good arsenic Opposition leaders visited the tract of the occurrence connected Tuesday, including Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim and Congress State president Subhankar Sarkar. A squad of forensics experts besides reached the spot and conducted investigations.
Mr. Sarkar criticised the lapses successful effect from the authorities and came down heavy connected the authorities for not taking capable steps for occurrence safety.
“Who is giving a occurrence licence to specified places? Why bash ruling oregon Opposition parties not speech astir specified amerciable constructions? People from the authorities [who are] liable for the occurrence should resign,” Mr. Sarkar said.
The Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari besides accused the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) authorities of negligence, and called the occurrence a “man-made tragedy”.
“This is not a mere accident; it is the nonstop effect of the Mamata Banerjee government’s chronic negligence, incompetence, and utter nonaccomplishment successful governance. Lack of administrative checks and balances and scrutiny lead to disregard for rules and ultimately cause such nonaccomplishment of lives,” Mr. Adhikari said.
The elder Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) person besides called for an impartial, high-level inquiry, strict punishment for the guilty, and capable compensation for the affected families. These demands were besides echoed by Mr. Sarkar.
Many of the godowns successful the country were constructed by filling up wetlands, sources said, with Opposition leaders criticising allegedly amerciable constructions.
Massive blaze
The occurrence broke retired astir 3 a.m. astatine a warehouse in Nazirabad in Anandapur connected Monday (January 26, 2026). Twelve occurrence engines were pressed into service, and firefighters battled the blaze passim the time to bring it nether control.
Several radical were trapped wrong the warehouse and reportedly made frantic telephone calls to their families to accidental they were incapable to escape.
The warehouse housed a decorator’s godown and a fashionable nutrient chain.
The occurrence revived memories of different tragedies, including a monolithic blaze in Burrabazar that engulfed a edifice and killed astatine slightest 14 radical successful April 2025. Kolkata has witnessed several large incidents of occurrence successful caller years, astir notably the 2011 occurrence astatine the AMRI Hospital successful which implicit 90 radical were killed.
