Kolkata: Non-compliance of fire-safety norms plagues the city’s second Mini Bangladesh at Mukundapur where many hotels have been instructed to shut down. This compounded the problems of patients and their kin, including those who shifted to these accommodations from the New Market area following the blaze at Shikha Inn.“Some hotels in this area have also been instructed to shut down,” said Samir Sarkar, owner of Samrat Guest House in Nitai Nagar, off Mukundapur Road. This has left dozens of Bangladeshi families facing higher tariffs at larger commercial hotels or early departures before completing their medical follow-ups.Majority of these accommodations are found running without proper firefighting arrangements such as smoke and heat detectors, alarms, emergency exit or passage for safe evacuation.After the Free School Street fire tragedy, the owners of several guest houses at Mukundapur have put up small extinguishers, but other arrangements needed for safe evacuation of boarders are missing there.Asked about the reason behind running business without fire safety compliance, Ashok Majhi, owner of a guest house at Stadium Nagar said, “We shall apply for it. At present, we have only fire extinguishers on each floor. We don’t allow boarders to cook inside the building for safety.”Two exit gates were found locked at another guest house. Debasish Mondal, manager of the accommodation reasoned, “To prevent the entry of stray dogs and thieves, we keep the emergency gates locked. Though we don’t have fire alarm system, we installed extinguishers recently.”Md Sahid Ali from Dhaka put up at Juhi guest house at for his wife’s treatment. “Fire alarms or other precautionary measures don’t exist. The alternative gate remains locked,” he said. Pabna resident Tilak Karmakar’s mother is undergoing treatment for cancer. “We chose Mukundapur, instead of New Market, but several accommodations in this area don’t have precautions. We are staying at Sonar Bangla guest house,” he rued.
