A rubber factory in the Tiljala area of the city was gutted in a massive fire that broke out on Monday night and kept smouldering till late in the evening on Tuesday.
The fire was detected at the factory housed in a three-storied building at about11 pm on Monday. Twenty fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached to the spot at 12.30 am on Tuesday and oversaw fire-fighting operations for nearly an hour.
Although there was no report of any causality, there was panic in the area and the nearby slums were vacated.
“It was big fire. We will see whether the factory had the required licence and whether fire-safety measures were in place,” said Javed Ahmed Khan, the State's Minister for Fire and Emergency Services.
He said that Chief Minister pointed out that there was no fire station in the vicinity of the site and that a fire station should be set up in the area. He also said that Ms. Banerjee has instructed that a thorough investigation be conducted into the incident.
The factory is located in a congested area and fire tenders could not reach the spot. There was no water source available in the area. It continued till the evening as there was a large number of rubber articles stacked in the building, officials of the Fire department said. They pointed that there were no fire safeguards and the there were wire-netting at the windows of the buildings making it even more difficult to control the fire.
