Mamata offers Rs.10,000 for fire victims' last rites

"It is a very unfortunate incident. Though money cannot bring back those who are dead but the government will provide Rs.10,000 to each of the families of the dead to perform their last rites," she said.

Banerjee along with several of her ministerial colleagues is at the SSKM Hospital where the bodies are being handed over to the family members after post-mortem examination.

She also said that special railway and air conveyance will be arranged free of cost for the families coming from outside the city to take the dead back to their home towns and villages.

In the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India, 78 patients and three staffers were killed in the city's well-known AMRI Hospital when a blaze started in the basement of the annexe building early Friday and quickly spread, trapping hundreds of people.

The pre-dawn blaze broke out at 3.30 a.m., catching many in their sleep. While most nurses, doctors and other staffers were able to get away, many critically ill patients died in their hospital beds.

Banerjee has also announced a sum of Rs.300,000 each for the families of the dead.