TOWERING INFERNO: Nandaram in flames. A Telegraph picture

Rampant violation of all established fire norms was the main reason behind the 100-hour blaze at Nandaram Market in January.

That’s the crux of a 111-page inquiry report, which a state-appointed committee has prepared and submitted to chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb earlier this week.

“It is clear from the report that a disaster was just waiting to happen in Nandaram, as the building did not have any fire-fighting preparedness,” said D.P. Biswas, the additional director-general of the West Bengal Fire Services, who was on the seven-member committee.

The state home department constituted the committee, with representatives from police, fire services, Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and CESC, on February 4.

Besides drawing from the FIR filed by the fire services department on January 18 — the day the fire broke out in the building and the adjoining areas — the report includes the findings of the state forensic laboratory. Accounts of witnesses and the statement of Nandaram owner Manik Sethia are annexed to the report.

The report, a copy of which is with Metro, has slapped the following charges against the owner and occupiers of Nandaram Market:

None of them had a fire safety certificate or licence

LPG cylinders were illegally stored in several shops

Unknown, highly explosive materials were stored in various places

All corridors and passageways were almost blocked

No in-built manual or automatic fire protection, detection or extinguishing systems were installed

Almost all the shops and godowns on all the floors were stacked with highly combustible materials, like clothes, tarpaulin, polythene sheets and varnish

Huge storage of diesel in the generator room on the 13th floor of the building.

Based on these charges, the fire department has filed criminal proceedings against the building’s owner and occupiers.

“It would have been easier to control the fire had the owner or the traders in the building adhered to the most basic fire norms,” said Gora Chand Mondal, the director-general (building) of the CMC, another member of the committee.

But Sethia refuted the charges.

“We had the requisite fire-fighting preparedness. I used to check the equipment regularly in both Nandaram Market and Kashiram Block,”asserted Sethia.