A massive fire broke out on Wednesday evening (17th December) in a cluster of shanties near Eco Park on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata, triggering panic among residents. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in the incident, officials said.
The fire reportedly started around 7.30 pm in one of the shanties and quickly spread to nearby structures. Most of the houses in the area were made of highly inflammable materials such as plastic sheets, bamboo, and tin, which caused the flames to spread rapidly. Thick smoke covered the area, forcing residents to rush out of their homes to save their lives.
VIDEO | Kolkata: A massive fire broke out in a slum area in Newtown, Kolkata, following a suspected cylinder blast. Updated visuals show firefighters battling the blaze amidst the thick smoke, and flames.
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/i7cBeTwVEx— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 17, 2025
Firefighters rush to control blaze, area cordoned off
Over 20 fire tender vehicles were put on the ground in an effort to tame the fire. According to the fire department, even though the fire had been contained, the completeness in putting out the fire was slowed by the nature of the materials being used in the shanties. An investigation is being conducted to determine the origin of the fire.
The police partly cordoned off the area to facilitate the smooth movement of the fire engines. Locals also contributed to firefighting by helping in evacuating people as well as preventing the spread of the fire.
Political row erupts over the incident
The fire soon sparked a political controversy. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya said that the incident was part of a larger conspiracy linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in West Bengal. He claimed that the huts were empty because illegal immigrants were living there, and that they left India after the SIR started in the state. He also accused that there was delay in deploying fire tenders.
In a post on X, Malviya claimed that ever since the SIR exercise began, visuals of abandoned and empty huts had been emerging from areas around Kolkata, including Ghuni. He further alleged that several residents had moved towards the Bangladesh border and questioned why fire tenders were not deployed immediately despite the scale of the blaze.
Days before the Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to begin hearings on notices to be served to illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya settlers, a massive fire has broken out in the Ghuni slum near Eco Park, New Town.
Ever since the SIR process began in West Bengal, visuals of… pic.twitter.com/J9FgALqOxF— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) December 17, 2025
Referring to the recently published draft voter list, Malviya claimed that thousands of names from the area had been removed. He alleged that the fire was “orchestrated” so that residents could later claim loss of identity documents such as Aadhaar cards, ration cards, and voter IDs, and seek re-entry into the electoral rolls. He said, “To cover up these glaring omissions and facilitate their re-inclusion in the voter list, it is widely believed that the TMC orchestrated this fire.”
“This is not just an administrative lapse, but a deliberate attempt at manipulation,” Malviya said, warning that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was “playing with fire.”