Khidirpur Fire Accident: Fire destroyed almost 1300 shops; compensation declared by state government

New Delhi (India) June 17: In the early hours of Monday, June 16, 2025, a huge fire that destroyed hundreds of stores in the market neighbourhood of Khidirpur, Kolkata, broke out. After hours of work, the fire was contained after 20 fire engines were dispatched to the scene. No casualties have been reported as of yet. Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, visited the location and promised all impacted store owners compensation.

She said, “The government will take scientific measures to rebuild the market so that such incidents do not occur in the future. For the time being we will shift the market till this affected place is reconstructed.” 

She also promised to pay ₹50,000 for establishments that were slightly impacted and ₹1 lakh for shops that were totally destroyed. 

Manoj Kumar Verma, the police commissioner, also paid a visit to the location. He said that an investigation will determine the cause of the fire and a forensic team will visit to evaluate the situation.

Residents claim that because the fire service took too long to respond to their distress calls, the situation worsened and the fire spread over the entire market. According to the locals, the fire began at around one in the morning, but the fire engines arrived more than an hour later.

Sujit Bose, Minister of Fire and Emergency Services also visited the location and assessed the situation. All allegations that the fire engines were unprepared were denied by Mr. Bose. He claimed that a lengthy rescue effort resulted from the marketplace's small pathways that had made combating fires challenging.

He said, “Engines need to be rushed to the spot, it takes some time. Our workers risk their lives to save others. A lot of the shops also do not have proper safety measures that also need to be accounted for.” 

The neighbourhood people and shopkeepers were warned that the fire spread quickly because of the numerous oil godowns and combustible goods-filled warehouses and shops in the region. The place is also crowded which made it even harder to put out the fire. 

The West Bengal section of the Bharatiya Janta Party questioned the frequent fire incidents in Kolkata. They posted, “Fire Department Minister Sujit Bose is trying to shirk responsibility by claiming that most of these shops were illegal! Was the Kolkata Mayor unaware that illegal constructions were happening in his own area?” on their social media handle X.

Aadrika Tayal