Many hotels and guest houses are still closed in the surrounding areas after the fire incident in Free Schoool Street…. Sukhomoy Sen
Kolkata: Hotels and guest houses in central Kolkata and elsewhere that were summarily shut down following the fire at a Free School Street lodge on Aug 19 that left nine people dead are unlikely to open before Durga Puja . “We have found Mukundapur and its adjacent areas off EM Bypass under borough XII around which there are several private hospitals top the list of hotels and guest houses followed by areas such as Park Circus, Park Street, Kyd Street, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, Free School Street, Sudder Street, Kyd Street under boroughs VI and VII that have around 1,000 such establishments.
KMC sources said there were scant chances of the civic body permitting hotels, guest houses, lodges and restaurants that were closed for either breaching fire safety norms or building rules to resume operations anytime soon. The focus of the safety audit was on specific zones in some boroughs, according to a KMC building department official. Boroughs IV and V located in Burrabazar and its adjacent areas too have the lion’s share in the city’s hotels and guest house numbers,” said a KMC official.