Police on Thursday arrested the owner and manager of Rituraj Hotel, two days after a devastating fire engulfed the central Kolkata property, leaving 14 people dead.
Firefighters had recovered 13 charred bodies from the ruins of the six-storey hotel at Mechhua Falpatti, in the congested Burrabazar area, on Wednesday, with another victim succumbing to injuries later.
The victims included a woman and two children.
The arrested duo -- Akash Chawla, the hotel owner and manager Gaurav Kapoor -- were produced in court and remanded in police custody till May 8, police said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inspected the fire-ravaged hotel and announced that those responsible for the tragedy will not be spared.
Manoj Paswan, hotel employee and a native of Jharkhand, succumbed to his injuries sustained during his desperate bid to escape the flames by jumping off the second floor cornice of the building.
There were 88 guests in 42 rooms of the hotel when the fire broke out around 8 pm.
A suo motu case was registered against the property owners and managers at the local Jorasanko police station under various sections of the BNS, including section 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), and the West Bengal Fire Services Act, police said.
They said that 12 of the 14 bodies have been identified so far and their post-mortem examinations completed.
The bodies have been handed over to their families, they said, adding that efforts were underway to ascertain the identities of the remaining two.
The chief minister reached the affected property on her way back from Digha following the inauguration of the Jagannath Dham the day before and said that special committees comprising the police, administration and fire services department would be set up to monitor and identify establishments which are flouting fire safety norms.
"The teams will conduct surprise checks at private and commercial establishments in the city, as well as district towns. Not just the owners who are found guilty of norm violation, but also those in the administration responsible for oversight and handing operational NOCs to premises with inadequate fire safety will also come under the purview of punishment," she said.
"The panels will prepare reports and submit them to my office in the next 15 days," the CM added.
Flanked by Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma and senior ministers Sujit Basu and Sashi Panja, Banerjee told reporters that the hotel has now been sealed.
"This hotel has been in operation since 1989. It's an old property and its hydrants were dry. People died not because of burns, but by the smoke they inhaled. The outlets to release the smoke remained sealed and there was only one staircase," she said.
"Should we forgive those who are responsible for such gross lapses?" Banerjee asked.
Drawing attention to dilapidated structures in the vicinity of the accident site, the chief minister requested their inhabitants to temporarily relocate to safe residences and have the properties repaired in the meantime.
"Notwithstanding the legal disputes that they may or may not have, owners and tenants of these precarious structures should sit together and decide on repairing their buildings. The city police and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation will assist them in the task. The safety and security of people take precedence over everything else. You must live and let live," Banerjee said.
Building owners are only interested in earning money from their properties, she said, adding that most of them do not care about the lives of people who live or work in them.
The CM urged owners of shops and establishments in marketplaces to stop storing inflammable articles like plastics and chemicals.
"The committees will conduct regular checks for violation of norms. It's easy to light a fire but dousing it is much more difficult. Do not play with fire," she said.
Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said, "Don't vote for me if you don't like what I am saying. But save your lives first."
Following up on her announcements, the chief minister left Burrabazar and landed up at the eateries on Park Street immediately after to conduct a surprise check herself.
Irked by the sights of gross violations of fire safety standards, which included storage of commercial LPG cylinders in public places, Banerjee instructed Mayor Firhad Hakim and the CP to take adequate actions after sitting for talks with the restaurant owners.
"If by chance these cylinders explode, the blast will kill 50,000 people," she remarked, and stated she was tipped off by an acquaintance about the unsafe practices on Park Street.
In March 2010, a massive fire ripped through the residential building of Stephen Court at the same location killing 43 people.
Alleging that emergency services responded late in reacting to the Burrabazar fire, state's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said the number of deaths would not have been so high if rescue and relief operations were swift.
"Since the whole government was in Digha, the boarders from other states and other affected people were not provided necessary emergency services like instituting a helpline," he claimed, alluding to Banerjee's presence in Digha in Purba Medinipur district to inaugurate a Jagannath temple at the time of the incident.
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