Kolkata: Parking of bikes at the narrow entrance and near the meter box allegedly came up as a major cause that acted as a catalyst for the flames to spread fast in the building. Soon after the electrical short circuit near the meter box, the residents heard a loud sound of an explosion. Initially everyone had considered that cooking gas cylinders were exploding. But, later the residents realised that it was the fuel tanks of two wheelers parked near the meter box at the narrow entrance of the building had exploded. Jasim Akhtar, a resident of the building, said: "We have complaint repeated times to the landlord and even moved to the local police station informing about the parking of two-wheelers at the entrance." "We had repeatedly alerted them that it would lead to a major if any untoward incident take place in the building. The reason being people will not get space to move out and would get trapped inside," Akhtar said adding that the fire would not have spread fast if the motorbikes had not been parked there. Several bikes were found gutted in the fire. Allegations of selling space at the narrow entrance to park two-wheelers have also cropped up. Many of the bikes were of some of the residents itself. But other section of the residents had been showing reservation on the parking of bikes at the entrance. Akhtar claimed that repeated plea to the landlord to take steps in this regard fell on deaf ears. Local people said that the incident led to panic in the area and one Sanatan Behera is one of the six injured persons and he used to stay in a mezzanine floor of the building.

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