Park Street fire: Mamata slams West Bengal Govt's poor disaster management

Kolkata, Mar. 23 (ANI): Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed the disaster management of the West Bengal government, which failed to control the Park Street fire that broke out at 2 pm.

The Trinamool Congress chief has directed a railway emergency team from the Sealdah railway station to assist people trapped in a fire at the Stephen Court building on Park Street.

"I have asked the railway disaster management team from Howrah and Sealdah to come and assist the trapped people," Banerjee told reporters at the fire spot.

Banerjee said she did not want to make a political point, and she had deliberately delayed her arrival at the site so no one would accuse her of hampering rescue efforts.

"I was keeping an eye on matters and we waited for one-and-a half hours before coming here," she said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services Minister, Pratim Chatterjee blames excessive traffic to delay the rescue efforts.

"It takes one hour to cover a 15 km journey that is why the delay took place in the fire tenders reaching there," he said.

"We have three ladders we are using, one of them we brought from Europe. Everything is now operational," he added.

Earlier, at least two people were reported to be dead and over 17 seriously injured in the major fire that broke out in the multi- storied Stephen Court building.

The duo reportedly jumped off the building in order to get out of the fire.

Sources said technical fault might be the cause of the fire.

The offices of Go air and Jet airways are inside this building in plot number 18/A of Park Street.

Over to 20 to 25 people are feared trapped inside the building. (ANI)