The police commissioner of Calcutta visited a hotel and a shopping mall in central Calcutta on Friday afternoon, not far from Rituraj Hotel where a fire on the night of April 29 killed 14 people.

The top cop’s visit was meant to check their fire safety preparedness.

Commissioner Manoj Verma went to Shreeram Arcade in the New Market area and Hotel Avenue Club near Central Metro station.

Hotel Avenue Club is about 1 km from Rituraj Hotel, whose blatant lack of fire preparedness raised serious questions about other old and familiar commercial establishments.

Police sources said Verma’s visit was part of the police’s city-wide check of hotels, shopping malls, and other establishments for fire preparedness.

“The police have been visiting hotels, restaurants, malls and other places for the last few weeks. We have visited many markets in Burrabazar. The visits have intensified after the April 29 fire,” said an officer of Kolkata Police.

“We are recording the present status and the fire preparedness during the checks and advising the owners or traders’ association as required. However, we will pass on our findings to the fire services directorate and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, who are better placed in assessing fire preparedness and ensuring compliance,” the officer said.

Amarpreet Singh Handa, manager of Hotel Avenue Club, said Verma spent nearly 30 minutes at the hotel and visited all three floors. “We have 15 rooms. He went to every section of the hotel,” said Handa. “The police commissioner advised us to have regular fire drills and to keep all our tools updated,” said Handa.

Handa said the hotel had fire alarms, hose pipes, and a reservoir.

Central Calcutta is dotted with such hotels.

Verma was accompanied by Rupesh Kumar, the joint commissioner of police (crime), and Indira Mukherjee, the deputy commissioner (central). The police team had first gone to Shreeram Arcade.

“It was a surprise visit. I spoke to him during the inspection,” said Jacky Samtani, the president of the Shreeram Arcade Association.

The market has a 70,000-litre underground reservoir and another 20,000-litre storage capacity on the terrace.

“Each of the 300 shops has sprinklers inside. I think the police commissioner was satisfied with the fire safety arrangements in our market,” said Samtani.

Samtani said the top cop advised them to have openable windows in the staircase landings. The market has sealed windows in the landings now.

“He said openable windows will help to let out smoke in case of a fire,” said Samtani.

At the Rituraj Hotel, the preliminary police inquiry revealed that all but one of the deaths were from choking in thick smoke. One of the victims, a hotel employee, died after having jumped from a cornice trying to save his life.

Most of those dead were guests at the hotel who could not open their sealed windows when smoke gushed in.