Blown up

Sir — The explosion that ripped apart the McDonald’s outlet on Park Street should serve as a warning to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (“Big Mac blows up”, Aug 13). More and more shopping plazas, restaurants and multiplexes are coming up in Calcutta. It is doubtful as to how many of them conform to the desired safety norms. The blame for such negligence lies as much with the owners of the shops and malls as with the CMC. The municipal authorities do almost nothing to make sure that the glitzy new malls are guarded against fire hazards. Thousands of citizens who visit the malls thus live under the constant threat of explosions like the one that blew up McDonald’s.

Although Calcutta police have declared that the blast had been caused by a leak of liquefied petroleum gas, some people believe that a rise in pressure inside the air-conditioner ducts might have resulted in the explosion. It is frightening to learn that air-conditioners pose such a serious threat, since high capacity air-conditioning units are installed in every mall and five-star hotel. The CMC must order an immediate probe to find out whether the air-conditioning ducts in the malls all over Calcutta are functioning properly.

Yours faithfully,
A.S. Mehta, Calcutta

Sir — The mystery surrounding the blast at McDonald’s seems to be getting murkier, even though the Calcutta police and the owners of the food chain are trying to present anodyne explanations. Just after the explosion, the public was told that increased air pressure inside the air-conditioners caused the blast. Then the Calcutta police came up with LPG leak as the reason. And now Pratik Kumar Chatterjee, adviser (fire), of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, rubbishes the claims of the police (“Sabotage stink in Big Mac blow-up”, Aug 19). If there has been some foul play, then it is the duty of the police to find the truth rather than try and cover it up. It must be remembered that a precious life has been lost in the blast. The police owe it to the family of Aftab Hussain Ansari to track down the real cause behind the explosion.

Yours faithfully,
R. Kumar, Calcutta

Sir — Even more appalling then the news of the blast at McDonald’s was the fact that some of those injured were left unattended for hours at the SSKM hospital (“Valuing life”, Aug 14). If this is the way the government’s premier medical centre treats patients in an emergency, then one shudders to think what would happen if the city were ever to fall victim to a terrorist attack.

Yours faithfully,
Kunal Saha, Columbus, US

Sir — The assurance given by the McDonald’s owners that it adheres to the most stringent global and fire safety standards, and the city police commissioner’s LPG red herring notwithstanding, one thing is clear from the blast at Park Street on August 12: that the multinational soft drinks or food chain giants follow double standards, one for the Atlantic coasts, and another for the rest of the world. A similar accident would never have occurred in countries on either side of the Atlantic, where the Big Mac has been operating from much earlier.

With the Calcutta police coming up with new explanations everyday, it is doubtful how far they can be trusted in conducting an unbiased investigation into the blast. It is possible that the the weight of the McDonald’s brandname in the international market is behind the police’s hesitation to put the blame on the chain’s local franchisee. But if they handle the probe on their own, the chances of the victims’ families getting proper compensation look really slim.

Yours faithfully,
Bappaditya Pal, Calcutta

Parting shot

Sir — We, the members of Maitree, a women’s network, would like to ask the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre and the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh how they are executing their secular democratic responsibilities. The state government’s coalition partner, Majlis-e-Itahadul-Musalmeen, physically attacked Taslima Nasreen at the Hyderabad Press Club, and its leader in the assembly, Mohammed Owaisi, openly threatened to kill her if she visited the city again. In a secular democracy, the law says that anyone who publicly threatens to kill someone must be immediately arrested. Instead, the Hyderabad police registered an FIR against the victim filed by those who threatened her.

We are enraged that in a “communally harmonious” city like Calcutta, the Shahi Imam of Tipu Sultan Mosque, Syed Barkati, and Majidullah Khan Farhad of Majlis Bachao Hyderabad have offered an unlimited financial reward to anyone who kills the writer. Instead of arresting those who are issuing the threats, the commissioner of police, Prasun Mukherjee, said that the threats were a result of momentary anger. We strongly condemn the threats, the police commissioner’s remarks, and the refusal of the chief secretary, Amit Kiran Deb, to comment. The selective amnesia of the administration and the silence of most intellectuals aid the aggressive rise of religious fundamentalism.

We demand strong punishment for the fundamentalist religious leaders and an absolute guarantee for freedom of thought and movement for Taslima Nasreen. We also demand a proper governmental response to the inaction of the police in the face of such attacks.

Yours faithfully,
Maitreyee Chatterjee, Calcutta