Kolkata warehouse fire: Death toll rises to 25, NHRC takes suo motu cognizance

Kolkata: As the death toll in the Anandapur warehouse fire on the southern outskirts of Kolkata reached 25 on Friday morning, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) took suo motu cognisance of the matter and directed the District Magistrate concerned to submit an action taken report at the earliest.

The NHRC acted in the matter following a complaint alleging gross human rights violations at the Wow Momo factory at Anandapur.

In a communique sent from the NHRC to the District Magistrate of South 24 Parganas district, under whose jurisdiction Anandapur comes, the Commission has stated that the complaint attributed the mishap to criminal negligence by the management of said company as well as regulatory failures on the part of the state fire services and labour departments, urban planning authorities, and local administration.

In the communique, the NHRC has also highlighted gross violations of provisions under the Factories Act and Disaster Management Act. “The allegations made in the complaint prima facie seem to be violations of the human rights of the victims,” read the communique.

Meanwhile, informed insiders from the state disaster management department, several persons are still reported to be missing, thus prompting the apprehension of the death toll rising further during the day.

On Friday afternoon, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly will organise a protest rally in the Anandapur area. Initially, the police denied permission to conduct the protest rally.

However, later he got the permission for the same from the Calcutta High Court, which also imposed some conditions for conducting the protest rally.

On Thursday, the state fire services department and forensic team submitted their preliminary report on the incident, where it was stated that the fire did not originate from the Wow Momo factory, but from the adjacent ill-fated Pushpanjali decorator’s warehouse.

Although the Pushpanjali warehouse owner, Gangadhar Das, who was arrested after the incident, claimed that the fire first spread from the momo factory, the forensic and fire department reports suggested otherwise.

–IANS