Fire officers have justified their decision to allow Jai Hind Dhaba, which lacks basic fire-fighting preparedness, to resume business within an hour of Tuesday night's fire.

Around 9.20pm, a fire broke out in the chimney inside the kitchen on the ground floor. The fire was doused by 11pm and the dhaba was back to serving naansand kebabs by midnight.

A senior fire officer had said on Tuesday that the dhaba did not have water sprinklers or a fire alarm.

So, why was the dhaba allowed to resume business so soon?

The fire was "too small" to shut the place down, an officer of Kalighat fire station said on Wednesday.

"The fire started in the chimney... but the interiors weren't damaged," he said. "We have asked the owner to follow fire-fighting guidelines. The owner has agreed."

The fire in the chimney had reached the terrace and gutted a water tank but there was no damage to the dhaba as such, he said.

The fire has turned the focus on the fact that several eateries operate illegally without following basic fire-fighting rules.

On Wednesday afternoon, when Metro visited Jai Hind Dhaba next to Pan Asia Hotel and Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, it was teeming with people waiting to take away food parcels.

When the fire broke out on Tuesday, there were 20 diners at the dhaba. The crowd starts building up after 11pm, one of the employees said.

In November last year, Olypub was shut for several days after a blaze gutted its mezzanine floor. Fire officers had found the Park Street bar operating without basic fire-fighting equipment.

About two months before that, the fire department had shut down Chatterjee International Centre for almost a week. It was allowed to reopen after the authorities gave an undertaking that they would implement fire-safety guidelines within three months.

An officer said the fires at Olypub and Chatterjee International had caused considerable damage to the buildings.

"But the fire at the dhaba did not do so.... That is why we allowed it to resume business."

Dhaba owner Manjit Singh said he would comply with the fire safety guidelines.