Kolkata: A day after a fire at a Free School Street lodge killed nine boarders, including seven Bangladeshi nationals, Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Thursday raided several hotels and guest houses in the area and closed down 16 of them for operating without adequate safety measures. In addition, the fire department issued show-cause notices to nine guest houses and four restaurants on Free School Street, giving them 24 hours to explain why they had failed to comply with fire-safety norms despite repeated warnings.The 16 guest houses that were shut down were found to be violating both fire safety norms and KMC’s building rules, a civic official said. Eight of these operate from a single building on Marquis Street, while the remaining eight are located in five different buildings on Lindsay Street. Owners of some of these guest houses couldn’t even produce sanctioned building plans, the official added.The civic body will visit about 4,000 hotels and guest houses across the city as part of the audit announced in the wake of Wednesday’s fire tragedy, KMC building department sources said. “It is a mammoth task,” an official said. The latest audit comes even as the civic body is completing an audit of all under-construction high-rise buildings launched following the collapse of a warehouse near Taratala on June 24.“We have set up 16 teams in 16 boroughs to visit guest houses, hotels and other commercial establishments over the next month. A preliminary report will be submitted on Aug 25,” an official said. The teams will review the age of the buildings from where these operate, sanction plans, whether there has been any conversion from residential to commercial without sanction, the firefighting system, provision for fire exits, possession of a trade licence among other factors.The 13 establishments served notices by the fire department include Gulistan Guest House, Hotel Jaapon, Hotel Royal Palace, Empire Guest House, Continental Guest House, Sudden Inn, New Super Guest House, Biman Lodge, Bhagirathi Guest House, Super Pub Bar, The Bhoj Company, Super Fried Chicken and Maria Restaurant. These operate from three different premises on Free School Street.A visit by TOI to some of these properties revealed a worrying gap between claims of fire-safety compliance and the condition inside the buildings.Gulistan Guest House, which has about 30 rooms in one section of the first floor, failed a fire inspection on Wednesday after a fire-hydrant pipe burst. A TOI inspection found rooms constructed on staircase landings and poor ventilation in several rooms. “We have been receiving fire NOC since 2011. We have smoke detectors and fire alarms and have submitted all papers to the fire department,” said proprietor Rifat Khan.Hotel Royal Palace, which operates from the other section of the same floor, has around 20 rooms, many of which either lack windows or have them boarded. “We put up in hotels in this area as suggested by our travel operators,” said Md Arif, a Bangladeshi national who frequently visits India.At the six-room New Super Guest House, the manager admitted there were no fire alarms or smoke detectors but claimed the property had fire clearance. When asked about an emergency exit, a staff member pointed to a window on the landing of the staircase through which an occupant would have to jump onto the asbestos roof of the shop outside.Among the four restaurants issued notices, Maria Restaurant opposite the fire brigade headquarters still uses charcoal ovens for the majority of its cooking. It has no fire licence and no fire-safety equipment. “We will install them in future,” the manager said.
