Lackluster Attitude Spoils All

In any civilized country or city the significance of police and fire departments is immense. In short their professional excellence and know-how conducts the life of the city. On the contrary the striking absence of these drives the entire civil infrastructure into darkness. This very saga of inefficiency was witnessed by the world a few a days back when the worst fire in living memory gutted the Burrabazar, the trade hub in Kolkata, known in the globe for its cultural splendor. Well, there is no doubt that incidents of fire are quite natural and they can take place anywhere at any time. But in this case what is most striking is the gross inefficiency of the police and fire departments! The effete handling of the entire incident by the state's laidback administration forced the situation to be out of the frying pan into the fire.

The gory sight that greets any person passing by Nandaram complex in Burrabazar area of central Kolkata, is enough to make one's stomach churn and eyes moisten. The market, which operated in full swing till a month ago, has now been reduced to a pile of bricks, rubble and debris of goods that were ravaged in the devastating fire that engulfed the complex on the portentous day, and kept rearing its ugly head for more than 100 hours. All happened due to sheer negligence. It is on the fateful day and the following week the Kolkatans (citizens of the city) realized that these two emergency services were without any such idea of reinforcement, and the same incident can be repeated anywhere in the city, and the result will be identical. This brings us only to the conclusion that perhaps the damage would not have reached to such an extent, had the administration realized the consequences of a disaster in an area like Burrabazar.