KMC decided to shut down 919 lodges, guest houses, assures of fast-track reopening after fire compliance
Times of India | 9 September 2026KMC launched a strict inspection of lodges, guest houses and hotels, checking for their compliance to fire safety and building norms, after a blaze at a crammed lodge inside Florence Mansions on Free School Street killed nine on Aug 19.
According to the KMC administrator and municipal commissioner, the civic body has shut down 919 out of the 960 establishments it has so far inspected. Gross violation of fire-safety norms was found on those premises, a civic official said. The KMC team, along with fire officers, CESC officials and cops, will visit another 2,440 establishments over the next three weeks.
While the crackdown is underway, the civic brass has decided to do a rethink after some owners approached the KMC buildings department and promised to upgrade their fire safety measures and conform to the norms. “We have decided to give the closed establishments a chance to reopen, provided the owners upgrade the fire safety norms and adhere to the KMC building rules,” said KMC administrator Smita Pandey, adding that no permission would be granted for reopening without compliance to fire safety norms.
“We can’t play with fire. If the owners of closed hotels and guest houses don’t take a lesson from the tragic fire incidents and follow fire safety rules, we can’t allow them to reopen,” said a KMC official.
A civic official said a majority of the guest houses, located in the city’s central business district (CBD), had been over years converted from being residential homes to commercial units by flouting KMC rules. If they were again found without adequate firefighting tools, they would not be allowed to reopen for good, the official said.
According to a civic official, owners of small guest houses located around hospitals and healthcare centres might be considered for reopening if they upgraded their fire safety arrangements. “We know for sure that relatives of patients, admitted to a cancer hospital in the Thakurpukur area, are in a difficult situation as guest houses around the facility have been shut for violations. We should consider such cases if the owners come forward and apply for reopening. But they need to change the current firefighting arrangements at these guest houses,” said a KMC official.
But KMC officials conceded that it was an uphill task to wrap up the safety audit in the next two weeks, considering that their officials still needed to do the rounds of almost 2,500 hotels and guest houses in the city. “So far, we have surveyed around 30% of the targeted establishments. Visiting the rest in two weeks appears to be a tough job,” said a KMC buildings department official.
Besides meeting deadlines, the KMC buildings department’s senior officials are finding it difficult to shut hotels and guest houses before Durga pujas.
Hotels in and around New Market, including Mirza Ghalib Street, Lindsay Street, Collin Lane, Sudder Street, Marquis Street and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, may feel the heat as these guest houses need much improvement as far as firefighting methods are concerned.
