Kolkata warehouse fire: Death toll rises to 25, NHRC takes suo motu cognizance

As the death toll in the devastating warehouse fire at Anandapur on the southern fringes of Kolkata climbed to 25 by Friday morning, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) stepped in, taking suo motu cognisance of the tragedy and directing the concerned district magistrate to submit an action taken report at the earliest.

The NHRC’s intervention followed a formal complaint alleging grave human rights violations linked to the fire at the Wow Momo factory premises in Anandapur. In a detailed communique addressed to the district magistrate of South 24-Parganas district — under whose jurisdiction the area falls — the Commission said the complaint pointed to criminal negligence by the company’s management, along with serious regulatory lapses by multiple state agencies.

According to the NHRC, the complaint blamed failures on the part of the state fire services and labour departments, urban planning authorities, and the local administration, alleging that their inaction and oversight lapses contributed to the scale of the disaster. The commission further flagged “gross violations” of provisions under the Factories Act and the Disaster Management Act, noting that the allegations, on the face of it, amounted to violations of the human rights of the victims.

“The allegations made in the complaint prima facie appear to constitute violations of the human rights of the affected workers,” the NHRC stated in its communication.

Meanwhile, concerns are mounting that the toll could rise further. Sources within the state disaster management department said several individuals are still reported missing, raising fears that more bodies could be recovered as search operations continue through the debris.

The tragedy has also triggered political fallout. On Friday afternoon, the leader of Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly is set to lead a protest rally in the Anandapur area, demanding accountability and justice for the victims. While police initially denied permission for the rally, the Calcutta High Court later allowed it to proceed, imposing certain conditions to ensure law and order.

Investigations into the cause of the fire are ongoing. On Thursday, the state fire services department and a forensic team submitted their preliminary findings, stating that the blaze did not originate inside the Wow Momo factory. Instead, the fire reportedly broke out in the adjacent Pushpanjali Decorators’ warehouse, which was also gutted in the incident.

This conclusion contradicts claims made by Gangadhar Das, the owner of the Pushpanjali warehouse, who was arrested following the fire and had alleged that the flames first spread from the momo factory. However, both forensic evidence and the fire department’s initial assessment suggest that the origin of the blaze lay within the Pushpanjali facility.

As rescue operations continue and investigations widen, the tragedy has thrown a harsh spotlight on industrial safety standards, regulatory oversight, and the protection of workers’ rights — questions that now stand squarely before both state authorities and the judiciary.

With IANS inputs