WB Fire Dept Asks Abhishek To Vacate His Kolkata Party Office
West Bengal fire department has directed TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee to vacate his Kolkata party office over inadequate fire safety measures and an expired certificate.
Trouble deepens for Diamond Harbour Trinamul Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee as the West Bengal fire and emergency services department on Friday directed him in an order to vacate his main party office spread across two floors of a multi-storeyed building at Camac Street in the city “immediately” after finding lack of fire safety measures including non-renewal fire safety licence during an audit there on August 31.
The step follows vandalism allegedly by BJP workers early Thursday and removal of an unauthorised billboard by Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Kolkata Police in a joint raid at the same address last week following a complaint. According to the state fire department order, the Renewal of Fire Safety Certificate (RFSC) of Mr Banerjee's office at the sixth and seventh floor of the building on 9 Camac Street was valid for three years from August 10, 2023 but it expired.
Later, a notice for hearing towards non-compliance of fire safety measures at Mr Banerjee's office was served to him and the building owner. While the building owner skipped the hearing, Mr Banerjee's representatives attended it and furnished a copy of lease deed. Examining the document, the fire department found that the onus of implementation/ installation of fire safety measures and obtaining the fire safety certificate of the two floors lied upon the TMC MP.
It added in the order, “In the said RFSC, it was clearly recommended to renew the same before expiry. However you failed to do so,” and declared the portion “unsafe due to non-maintenance and inadequacy of the required fire safety measures” while directing Mr Banerjee “to vacate the aforesaid occupancy(s) immediately” and “not to use the said occupancy until and unless the fire safety measures are complied and the RFSC is obtained by you.”
Mr Banerjee is yet to react to it. Earlier, his parliamentary party office in his Lok Sabha constituency, Diamond Harbour, in South 24 Parganas was demolished by a bulldozer in a police raid by the district administration in July over allegations of forcible and illegal occupancy.
