No casualties as fire engulfs building in central Kolkata; fire minister, mayor visit site
Kolkata, Nov 15 (PTI): At least 20 fire tenders were pressed into service on Saturday to douse a massive blaze in a multi-storey building in Kolkata’s congested Ezra Street area, officials said.
No casualties were reported, police added.
The blaze was brought under control after almost 10 hours by the firefighters, a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
"The fire broke out around 5.30 am, and 20 fire engines were deployed to control the blaze," a senior official of the state fire services department said.
"No casualties were reported, no individuals were trapped inside the building. Emergency teams cordoned off the area as a precaution. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, though the presence of electronic equipment and closely packed storage spaces is believed to have accelerated the spread of the fire," the official told PTI.
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Fire Minister Sujit Bose and Mayor Firhad Hakim both visited the spot and monitored the rescue operations until the fire was brought under control.
"There has been no human casualty, but a huge monetary loss. I will urge the businessmen to do their business, but they must maintain and follow the fire safety norms," Bose said.
Halkim said that he would convene a meeting next week to review safety norms.
"We will probe how much fire safety norms were followed here at Ezra Street. I will hold a meeting so that businessmen can do their business without facing any problems. I want help from the police in this connection," Hakim said.
Talking to PTI, a senior official of the fire department said that currently firefighters were carrying out cooling process.
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Tejas jet suffered damage to airframe while landing at frontline air base
New Delhi (PTI): A Tejas light combat aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) sustained major damage to its airframe after it overshot the runway at a frontline airbase following a suspected brake failure earlier this month, authoritative sources said on Sunday.
The pilot of the aircraft ejected safely, they said.
It is learnt that the aircraft was returning to the base after carrying out a training sortie.
There was no official word from the IAF on the accident that took place on February 7.
Following the incident, the IAF grounded the entire fleet of around 30 single-seat Tejas jets to carry out an extensive technical scrutiny, the sources said.
It was the third accident involving the Tejas jets. The first one took place in March 2024, when a Tejas jet crashed near Jaisalmer.
The second incident took place in November 2025, when a Tejas jet crashed during an aerial display at the Dubai Airshow.
The latest accident comes at a time when Tejas maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has missed several deadlines to supply the Tejas Mark 1A variant of the aircraft to the IAF.
In February 2021, the defence ministry sealed a Rs 48,000 crore deal with HAL for the procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A jets for the IAF.
The delivery of the jets is facing delays primarily due to GE Aerospace missing several deadlines for the supply of its aero engines to power the jets.
The defence ministry in September last year sealed another deal worth Rs 62,370 crore with HAL to procure 97 Tejas MK-1A light combat aircraft for the IAF.
Tejas is a single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft capable of operating in high-threat air environments.
It has been designed to undertake air defence, maritime reconnaissance and strike roles.
