Repeated Burrabazar Fires a Result of Administrative Failure, Claims KMC Councillor

A devastating fire that erupted in the early hours of November 15, 2025, in Kolkata’s congested Burrabazar wholesale market has exposed chronic administrative negligence, with local KMC councillor Santosh Pathak revealing that the affected ten-story building at 17 Ezra Street had suffered 22 prior fire incidents without corrective action from authorities. The blaze, which began around 4:30 a.m. in a ground-floor electrical goods warehouse, rapidly engulfed adjacent shops and leaped to the high-rise opposite, fueled by massive stockpiles of inflammable materials including wiring, plastics, chemicals, and construction debris.

Despite deploying over 20 fire tenders and more than 100 personnel, firefighters struggled for over eight hours to contain the inferno due to narrow lanes—some barely 8 feet wide—blocked by parked vehicles and debris, preventing heavy engines from reaching the core site. No casualties were reported, but dozens of small traders suffered catastrophic losses, with goods worth crores reduced to ashes in one of the city’s oldest and densest commercial hubs.

Councillor Pathak, representing Ward 41, accused the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Fire Department, and Kolkata Police of systemic inaction, stating he had repeatedly flagged the building’s hazardous wiring, illegal godowns, and absence of fire safety compliance—issues ignored despite documented warnings. “I wrote to the police and fire services multiple times, but no action was taken,” he told reporters at the site, pointing to the adjacent structure that also caught fire in front of him.

Residents and shopkeepers echoed his frustration, alleging delayed response times—claiming the first fire engine arrived nearly 30 minutes after alerts—and a complete lack of sprinklers, extinguishers, or emergency exits in the mixed-use complex housing both businesses and families. Local attempts to douse the flames with buckets failed as the fire reached unidentified combustible substances, triggering secondary explosions that shattered glass and sent embers raining across rooftops, further hampering containment.

The incident underscores deep-rooted urban planning failures in Burrabazar, a 300-year-old trading nerve center generating over INR 1,000 crore daily in electronics, textiles, and hardware turnover. Fire officials confirmed the presence of highly volatile materials stored without segregation, a common violation in the area’s unregulated warehouses. The operation escalated from six to over 20 tenders, with foam units and aerial ladders eventually deployed, but access remained a critical bottleneck—mirroring challenges seen in the 2023 Bagree Market blaze that destroyed INR 500 crore in goods. Traffic was diverted across central Kolkata, and a heavy police contingent cordoned off Ezra Street as structural engineers assessed collapse risks in the weakened high-rise.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered immediate relief, including temporary shelters and compensation, while announcing a high-level probe into safety lapses and response delays.

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As smoke continued to rise into the afternoon, the tragedy has reignited demands for mandatory fire audits, demolition of illegal extensions, and installation of micro-sprinkler systems in Burrabazar’s 5,000+ godowns. Traders, many from third-generation Marwari and Gujarati families, gathered in despair, with one owner lamenting, “We pay taxes, but where is the protection?” The repeated fires—now 23 in the same complex—serve as a damning indictment of governance inertia, prompting calls for a special task force to enforce building codes before the next spark turns tragedy into catastrophe in Kolkata’s irreplaceable commercial heart.

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