Warehouses gutted in Bengal’s Nazirabad fire were illegally built on wetlands: Panchayat official

A fire official on Monday said the two warehouses did not have fire safety clearance and were functioning without any approval.

Kolkata: The two warehouses in West Bengal’s Nazirabad area, where at least 27 people are feared dead after a massive fire earlier this week, were built illegally on the protected East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW), Sonarpur panchayat samiti secretary (karmadakshya) Prasanta Biswas said on Friday.

With the fire accident, the issue of illegal filling up of wetlands and construction of unauthorised buildings in the area has taken a political turn. (PTI)

“The Karimpur mouza under the Kheadaha-II village panchayat is entirely under the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW). No construction is allowed here. Be rest assured that the panchayat didn’t give any permission to the two warehouses. They have come up illegally,” Biswas said.

The police have arrested three persons including Gangadhar Das, the owner of the decorator’s firm who also owned the two warehouses. On Friday two officials of Wow! Momo, the manager and deputy manager of the warehouse, were arrested.

A massive fire on January 26 gutted two warehouses near Kolkata, where the toll remains unknown even as police said they have recovered 21 body parts from the site. It has now been revealed that these warehouses, along with multiple others, were allegedly built in violation of Ramsar Convention, an international treaty.

According to officials involved in rescue and search operations, while in one of the warehouses items such as thermocol, foam-sheets, cloth and wooden planks belonging to a decorator were stored, the other was being used by a Kolkata-based fast food restaurant chain Wow Momos. The decorator’s firm was the owner of both the warehouses.

“Wow! Momo took the warehouse on rent from Pushpanjali Decorators in 2023. We have submitted all the documents to the police. It was a dry warehouse where daily items needed in our stores, such as tissues, cold drinks and bottled water, were stored,” said an official of Wow! Momo, who was willing to be quoted.

Unauthorised constructions in East Kolkata Wetland area

A fire official on Monday said the two warehouses did not have fire safety clearance and were functioning without any approval.

Roshini Sen, member secretary of the East Kolkata Wetland Management Authority (EKWMA), said they were constantly taking action against unauthorised constructions in the EKW area, but new structures continued to come up. “We are doing whatever is within our limits. We are only two people. The Calcutta High Court and the NGT are hearing a series of cases. Recently, some unauthorised constructions were demolished and power connections were disconnected,” Sen said.

Data available with the EKWMA reveals that between July 2007 and February 2021, at least 358 cases were registered across eight police stations in and around Kolkata in connection with unauthorised constructions, filling up of water bodies, and even attacks on government officials during field surveys in the wetlands.

NGOs working on the East Kolkata Wetlands, however, said the number of cases is just the tip of the iceberg and that violations on the ground are far more widespread.

“Till 2024, at least 493 cases have been registered against unauthorised constructions and illegal filling up of water bodies in the East Kolkata Wetlands. Even the two warehouses that were gutted were built on a wetland in Karimpur mouza. But till date there has been no conviction in the cases registered. The illegal constructions are demolished and electricity is disconnected only on paper,” said Naba Dutta, environment activist and general secretary of Nagarik Mancha, an NGO working on environmental issues.

Spreading over 12,500 hectares, the EKW is often referred to as the natural kidney of Kolkata as it has the capacity to treat millions of gallons of the city’s sewage. It was designated a Ramsar site in 2002. But this vast landscape on the eastern edge of the city has, over the years, remained a target of land sharks who illegally fill up wetlands and construct buildings.

A visit to the area off the EM Bypass in Kolkata revealed that multiple warehouses have come up there. There were buildings, some standing three storeys tall. Local residents and a section of panchayat officials said these were all illegal. ‘Hogla’, a perennial aquatic plant that usually grows in wetland ecosystems, could be seen almost everywhere.

Political turn after the Sonarpur fire

With the fire accident, the issue of illegal filling up of wetlands and construction of unauthorised buildings in the area has taken a political turn.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced a compensation of ₹2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased person and ₹50,000 for the injured from the PMNRF.

“The recent fire mishap in Anandapur, West Bengal, is very tragic and saddening. My condolences to those who have lost their loved ones. I pray that those injured recover at the earliest,” the PMO wrote on X.

Suvendu Adhikari, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator and Leader of the Opposition in the state legislative assembly, held a rally in Kolkata on Friday demanding the arrest of the owners of Wow! Momo and the resignation of state fire minister Sujit Bose.

“The state fire minister should resign. The owner of the momo company had accompanied the chief minister on a foreign trip. He should be arrested. The arrest of two officials of the company is just an eyewash. We also demand that the next of kin of the deceased persons should be given ₹50 lakh compensation and a permanent job,” Adhikari said.

He also slammed the state government for rampant illegal filling up of wetlands and unauthorised constructions in the East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramsar site.

“Who gave the permission to fill up the wetlands? On whose order were the buildings constructed? Who gave them the NOC and PUC? We won’t leave this,” Adhikari said while addressing the protest rally.

The BJP is also likely to move the Calcutta High Court next week over the issue of filling up of wetlands and illegal constructions in the EKW.

The state government had earlier announced a compensation of ₹10 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased person.

State environment minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “Investigation is going on. If anyone thinks that unauthorised buildings have been constructed on the wetlands, he should lodge a complaint. If any complaint has already been lodged, the authorities concerned would look into it.”