3-hr blaze guts 330 tonnes of jute at city’s only mill, losses pegged at ₹2cr
Times of India | 28 February 2024
Kolkata: A fire broke out inside the compound of Calcutta Jute Manufacturing Co Ltd on Narkeldanga Main Road near E M Bypass, the last operational jute mill within the KMC area, on Tuesday morning. No one was reported to be injured or trapped inside the mill.
The adjoining Kadapara slum was also spared, said an officer, adding that the losses were pegged at more than Rs 2 crore. Raghavendra Gupta, owner of the mill, told TOI around 330 tonnes of raw jute were destroyed and the value of this inventory could be over Rs 2 crore. But, he said, he was thankful that there was no casualty.
Around 10 fire engines, along with the Kolkata Police’s disaster management group, took over three hours to douse the blaze but the cooling operation continued till evening.
The exact reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained, but fire officers suspect a short circuit started it. This is the second time since 2018 that such a massive fire broke out there.
A security guard at the mill, who first spotted the fire, said it started around 8.30 am. He raised an alarm and the fire department was alerted. Residents of the area, too, played a pivotal role in ensuring the flames did not spread to the nearby Kadapara slums. Two fire engines arrived first but even as firemen started their operation to douse the flames, smoke engulfed the area, causing panic among locals. The fire department sent six more fire engines to the spot and two more were kept on standby. Residents of the area were especially scared that the flames, which were fuelled by inflammable items inside the mill, could spread to the slum, commercial establishments beside the mill and a residential complex opposite.
However, the firemen managed to bring the fire under control shortly and a major accident was averted. Police refused to comment, saying a forensic team would ascertain the cause of the fire. “We will take action once we get the fire department and FSL reports. This will include a study of the firefighting mechanism in the jute mill.”
Calcutta Jute Mill, the lone surviving mill in Kolkata, was established in 1930. The mill, with 400 workers, has a processing capacity of 25 tonnes a day. All the other jute mills in Bengal are mainly in Hooghly, North and South 24-Parganas and Howrah.
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