Kolkata Building Housing Abhishek Banerjee's Office To Be Partially Vacated

The West Bengal Fire Department on Friday ordered that the basement and two floors of a high-rise building, housing TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee's office, in central Kolkata be vacated over "lack of fire safety measures", an official said.

This came a day after Banerjee's Camac Street office was ransacked, with the TMC blaming BJP-linked men for the attack, a charge denied by the ruling party.

A week ago, authorities removed an "illegal" billboard of the TMC from the same building, during which private guards at Banerjee's office, his supporters and some party leaders had scuffled with police and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials.

"No fire safety measures were traced in the basement of the high-rise. Following that, we served a show-cause notice to the owner of the building and gave them a 48-hour deadline.

"Since we did not get any response and the deadline passed, we sent them a notice to evacuate the basement, sixth and seventh floors of the building. If the basement of any building has no fire safety measures, it could lead to a big disaster in case of a fire," the official told PTI.

He said the fire safety certificate for the premises expired on August 10 and had not been renewed.

In the notice sent to the building owner on Friday, the department said the basement and sixth and seventh floors would not be allowed to be used until the deficiencies are rectified and a valid fire safety certificate is obtained.

A joint team of police and fire officials conducted a floor-by-floor inspection of fire safety measures in the building on Monday. The inspection found inadequate firefighting measures on the seventh floor, no designated fire exit and problems with the fire alarm system, according to the notice. 

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