McDonald's blast remains mystery

Fast food giant McDonald's plans to reopen its Park Street outlet by April though the mystery of the huge explosion at the restaurant on March 9, 2007, that took one life, has not been solved.

In response, established restaurants on the street may approach regulators like fire authorities on safety norms being followed on the street, best known for its row of restaurants and select stores.

Some however were indifferent to McDonald's reopening in the city.

Others were apprehensive because the cause for the blast at McDonald's in August last year, after its launch in March 2007, has not been made public.

According to sources in the Eastern India Hotel & Restaurant Association, "If the cause is unknown, the incident is likely to reoccur. Although McDonald's says it will be more careful in future, it does not sound convincing because if the company does not know the cause of the blast, how can it decide on what measures should be taken in order to be more careful in future?"

Vikram Bakshi, the managing director of McDonald's India (north and east), did not reply to the questionnaire sent to him on this issue.

The mystery blast on the morning of August 12 killed a pedestrian and injured four employees.

The final forensic report has not been released and no explanation for the explosion has been given.

Theories range from "high AC duct pressure" to "dust in the AC ducts" to "LPG leak" to "methane accumulation" to "mala fide intentions".

According to a teacher of Loreto House, the school nearest to the McDonald's outlet on Park Street, "We will not encourage student gatherings at McDonald's any more to avoid any mishaps, since we are responsible."

P C Mathew, principal of St Xavier's College, another educational institution on Park Street, said, "I have never been to McDonald's and don't think will take a trip in the near future."

According to employees of nearby restaurants on Park Street like Flurys, T3, Barista, and One Step UP, "Our business was never affected when McDonald's opened in March or when it shut down in August last year. So its reopening will not be of any concern to us."

The other confusion is about compensation.

Aftab Hussain Ansari, 24, was killed by the impact of the McDonald's explosion while waiting to cross Park Street and reach his home in Queens Mansion.

Mohammad Alauddin, Aftab's father, said somebody from McDonald's came to meet the family only in January this year though the blast occured in August last year, but denied any compensation had been received.

However, Bakshi, who was in the city recently, made claims to reporters that there was no response from Aftab's family, although the company wanted to help the younger brother with employment or sustainable compensation.

Bakshi told reporters here that he would not like to speculate the cause of the blast at its Park Street store, but he felt it was a freak incident.

Bakshi said the reopened full-menu McDonald's restaurant would have separate entrance and exit to enable better customer movement to handle the seating capacity of 150.

Next in line was a restaurant at Mani Square on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in Kolkata.

Location for the third restaurant has been selected but not made public.