Kolkata, Jan 30 (.) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday expressed deep sorrow over the devastating fire in Anandapur, on the eastern fringes of Kolkata, and announced financial assistance for the victims’ families.
He conveyed his condolences to those who lost their loved ones and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.
In a post on social media, the Prime Minister wrote, “The recent fire mishap in Anandapur, West Bengal is very tragic and saddening. My condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest.”
An ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakhs from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of each deceased. The injured would be given Rs. 50,000,” he added.
The West Bengal government has also announced compensation of ₹10 lakh for each deceased family in connection with the fire at a warehouse in Nazirabad, Anandapur. State Urban Development Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim had announced the state’s compensation on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the toll in the incident remains unclear. As of Friday, missing diaries have been filed in the names of 27 persons. Senior officials of the Baruipur police district said that 21 body parts have so far been recovered from the site.
However, the exact number of deaths is yet to be ascertained. The recovered body parts have been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) for forensic and DNA examination to establish the identities of the victims. Baruipur Superintendent of Police Shubhendru Kumar personally visited the CFSL in connection with the investigation.
Search and clearance operations are continuing at the site, with teams removing debris and damaged tin sheds of the warehouse to check for any remaining body parts. Governor C V Ananda Bose visited the spot on Friday to assess the situation.
Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, addressing a rally in Singur, said that ministers had been sent to the site immediately after the incident.
She had also announced that one member of each bereaved family would be given a civic volunteer job and that compensation of Rs 15 lakh would be arranged from the private companies where the victims were employed — Rs 10 lakh from the Momo Manufacturing Company and Rs 5 lakh from decorators.
So far, three arrests have been made in connection with the fire. Two officials of the Momo company were arrested on Friday, while the warehouse owner and decorator businessman, Gangaram Das, was arrested earlier.
The two arrested on Friday were produced in court and remanded to five days of police custody. . SAG SAS .