KOLKATA: As the death toll in the fire at two warehouses in Anandapur on the southern outskirts of Kolkata rose to 21, the first eyewitness and the person who alerted the fire services said the tragedy could have been avoided if the state fire services department had acted promptly instead of losing time over jurisdictional protocol.
The eyewitness, Virendra Yadav, owns a cattle shed next to the Pushpanjali Decorators warehouse, where the fire first broke out before spreading to the adjacent warehouse of Wow Momo.
Yadav was the first to call the fire department after noticing the blaze. However, when he dialled 101, the call went to the district control room. Instead of dispatching help immediately, officials asked him to contact the Kolkata control room.