500 of Cola’s 4K hotels inspected after fire on Free School Street

Calcutta: After issuing closure notices to over 500 hotels and guest houses, with an estimated 4,000 establishments requiring inspection for fire safety or building code violations following the Free School Road fire that claimed nine lives, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has set a deadline of September 20 to complete safety inspections of the remaining establishments.Sources in the KMC’s construction department said officials are focusing on specific zones in 16 districts with a high concentration of these properties. However, officials acknowledged it would be difficult to complete the task in two weeks, with an estimated 4,000 businesses requiring inspections. “We have examined less than 20% of the target sites. Visiting the rest remains difficult after two weeks,” said a KMC representative.Apart from meeting deadlines, senior officials of KMC’s construction department are facing difficulties in closing hotels and guest houses ahead of Durga Puja. “Some of the owners of closed hotels and guest houses have approached us asking us to consider issuing a license to open them. They are pleading with us as the future of their employees depends on our decision,” said a civic official. However, civic officials have made it clear that the decision to reopen closed establishments rests with the civic authorities.Apart from these closure notices, several cottages, guest houses and hotels in central Kolkata have voluntarily suspended their operations fearing sudden closure notices from the KMC and the state fire brigade during the ongoing safety audit, a KMC official said.Hotels in and around New Market, including Mirza Ghalib Street, Lindsay Street, Colleen Lane, Sudder Street, Marquis Street and Rafi Ahmed Kidwaya Road, have stopped taking bookings to avoid the embarrassment of asking guests to leave the hotel at short notice. The move follows the closure of more than 200 hotels in less than a week, with many in the zone ordered to cease operations in less than 24 hours.According to a KMC building department official, the safety audit was focused on specific areas in some areas. “We found that Mukundapur and its adjoining areas near EM Bypass in Ward XII, which has several private hospitals around it, top the list of hotels and guest houses, followed by areas like Park Circus, Park Street, Kid Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Free School Road, Sudder Street, Kid Street in Wards VI and VII, which have around 1,000 such establishments. Wards IV and V, located in Burrabazar and its adjoining areas, also account for the lion’s share in terms of number of hotels and guest houses in the city,” said a KMC official.