More than 200 hotels and guest houses near Kolkata’s New Market have been sealed or ordered closed within 48 hours after a deadly fire at the Shikha Inn residential hotel on Mirza Ghalib Street. The fire reportedly killed nine people, including seven Bangladeshis. The crackdown by the Kolkata municipal authority, fire service and police has left thousands of Bangladeshi visitors, many seeking medical treatment, facing an acute accommodation shortage.
The New Market hotel district, including Sudder Street, Marquis Street, Lindsay Street and Mirza Ghalib Street, is popular with Bangladeshi middle- and lower-middle-income travellers because of relatively affordable lodging and nearby services. Visitors and local residents alleged widespread illegal hotel operations, inadequate fire safety, narrow exits, absent emergency escape routes and unsafe electrical wiring. One Bangladeshi tourist said fire service personnel rescued him after he sheltered in a hotel bathroom.
Officials have formed a committee to investigate the fire and begun examining the legal status of hotels and guest houses. Visitors said remaining rooms are being offered at two to three times previous rates, while many are shortening their trips and seeking return bus tickets. A senior police officer said life safety would take priority, while police would monitor against harassment of tourists with valid documents.
কলকাতার নিউমার্কেট-সংলগ্ন এলাকা বাংলাদেশি পর্যটকদের কাছে খুবই পরিচিত একটি নাম। সদর স্ট্রিট, মার্কুইস স্ট্রিট, লিন্ডসে স্ট্রিট, মির্জা গালিব স্ট্রিট তথা ফ্রি স্কুল স্ট্রিট নিয়ে কলকাতার এই বিখ্যাত ‘হোটেলপাড়া’ গড়ে উঠেছে। মূলত চিকিৎসার প্রয়োজনে বাংলা
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