Hotel crackdown leaves Bangladeshi patients without a roof in Kolkata

Bangladeshi patients arriving in Kolkata for medical treatment are finding that a hotel room, once relatively easy to secure near the city’s hospitals, can now be out of reach. Some families have reportedly spent nights on pavements with their luggage after a sweeping hotel crackdown sharply reduced affordable accommodation.

The Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata has urged visitors to confirm that their accommodation remains open and suitable before travelling. The warning is especially important for patients and attendants who have long relied on the inexpensive hotels around New Market, Marquis Street and Free School Street.

Those neighbourhoods offered more than low room rates. They placed visitors close to hospitals, pharmacies, restaurants and transport. Families now face longer journeys, substantially higher prices or no room at all. The pressure is particularly severe for cancer patients who must remain in Kolkata for chemotherapy, radiotherapy and repeated hospital visits. For families with limited means, staying near a hospital is a necessity rather than a convenience.

The disruption has also reached Mukundapur and areas around major hospitals in south Kolkata. Hotels and guesthouses there have faced scrutiny over fire-safety and licensing violations, while poor patients from remote districts of West Bengal have encountered similar difficulties.

The enforcement drive began after a fire at Shikha Inn on Mirza Ghalib Street near New Market in the early hours of August 19. Nine people died, seven of them Bangladeshi nationals, including a child. Most victims suffocated after becoming trapped in toxic smoke.

The fire prompted safety audits by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, fire department and police. Inspectors focused on emergency exits, fire-safety compliance, building permissions, trade licences and other legal requirements. By August 22, at least 52 hotels in the New Market area had reportedly closed. As inspections widened, more than 100 hotels and guesthouses across Kolkata were either shut or faced closure.