Kolkata: After Durga Puja stampede this year, Chorbagan residents faced another major scare on Kali Puja-Diwali night (Sunday).
The residents themselves put out the fire in about 10 minutes.
The Girish Park police said the fire began close to midnight at the temporary store located at the pandal exit, very close to the area where the stampede took place and has been preserved by the SIT led by a retired judge in order to complete the investigation. “The locals, who were attending the Kali Puja at a nearby house, had spotted the fire,” said an officer. We are preparing a report, which will be forwarded to the SIT,” said a police officer.
A cracker-induced fire broke out at a makeshift shop around midnight. The fire fighters were not called in. The area, where the fire broke out, has several other makeshift shops. “We have been getting requests from locals to dismantle the pandal (where stampede occurred). But that is not for us to decide. The locals, meanwhile, fear fire incidents with the pandal still being kept intact.