The Kolkata state fire services department has expanded its safety crackdown beyond Mirza Ghalib Street — where a hotel fire on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday claimed nine lives — to three additional high-risk zones in the city: East Metropolitan Bypass, Sealdah Station, and Howrah Station. Officials confirmed that complaints from residents in all three areas have prompted urgent inspections of hotels, lodges, and guesthouses allegedly operating without minimum fire safety compliance.

Why These Three Locations Are Under the Scanner

The areas near Sealdah and Howrah stations — two of the city's busiest transit hubs — attract a steady flow of budget travellers from across the country, making low-cost lodging a lucrative but poorly regulated business. According to fire department officials, several establishments in these zones have been operating without adhering to basic fire safety norms, mirroring the conditions that led to the Mirza Ghalib Street tragedy.

The East Metropolitan Bypass presents a different but equally serious concern. The corridor has seen a surge in private hospitals over recent years, drawing patients from other states and even neighbouring Bangladesh. Accompanying this medical boom has been an unchecked proliferation of budget accommodations catering to patient families — many of which, officials say, have been flagged for fire safety violations.

Key Violations Flagged Near East Metropolitan Bypass

Fire department officials and local residents have raised at least three distinct categories of violations in the East Metropolitan Bypass area. First, several lodges and guesthouses are reportedly operating out of residential buildings illegally converted into commercial properties without requisite municipal permissions.

Second, many of these establishments are situated in narrow lanes with restricted approach roads, making it physically impossible for fire tenders to reach the buildings in an emergency. Third, residents have complained that some of these premises are allegedly being used for unlawful activities — a concern that adds a law-and-order dimension to what began as a fire safety audit.

What the Fire Department Said

'After the fire incident at Mirza Ghalib Street, our officials have received several complaints from local residents from these three areas about several hotels, lodges and guesthouses operating similarly without maintaining the minimum fire safety norms. We are taking such complaints quite seriously and will conduct inspections of such entities in these three areas,' a state fire services department official said.

On the East Metropolitan Bypass specifically, the official noted: 'Several major private hospitals have come up during the last few years which are adjacent to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, catering to patients not only from the city but also from other states and even from neighbouring Bangladesh. Often, the family members of such patients prefer staying at accommodations closer to such hospitals. Now viewing this as an opportunity for lucrative business, hotels, lodges and guesthouses have mushroomed in the area adjacent to such hospitals, and there are several complaints against their owners also of running such entities without maintaining fire safety norms.'

Action Already Taken at Mirza Ghalib Street

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, the state fire services department issued show-cause notices to 26 hotel entities in and around Mirza Ghalib Street. Additionally, closure notices were served on 11 other establishments in the same vicinity. The expanded crackdown to three new zones signals that authorities view the Mirza Ghalib Street incident not as an isolated lapse but as symptomatic of a city-wide regulatory failure.

What Happens Next

Physical inspections of lodging establishments near Sealdah Station, Howrah Station, and the East Metropolitan Bypass are expected to begin shortly, according to officials. The scale of the crackdown — now covering four major zones — suggests the fire department is under significant pressure to demonstrate systemic enforcement rather than reactive, incident-driven action. Whether the inspections lead to sustained compliance or remain a short-term response to public outrage will be closely watched.