Kolkata fire: From fathers, uncles to grandfather, inferno claims breadwinners
Shop-keepers stumbled around crying as they looked in shocked disbelief at the debris of their shops.
"I had invested around Rs 5 lakh for buying raw materials a few days ago. It was totally burnt. I don't know what I will do now," said Alok Ray, a shop-owner.
Another shop-keeper, Bappa Mazumdar, said he did not know how he would run his family with his shop devastated.
Although, the West Bengal government has announced compensation of Rs two lakh to the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 to the injured, the local people questioned why fire-fighting arrangements were not made.
"What was the government doing all these years? Why did the government not ensure that a proper fighting system was installed?" a local man, Rajat, asked.
The local people said that after the fire at the AMRI Hospital in December 2011 which claimed 94 lives, the authorities were urged to implement proper safety measures at the market, but it fell on deaf ears.
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