At least 35 shops of Unit-I market in the city were gutted in fire in the wee hours of Tuesday. Though the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, locals suspect it occurred due to short circuit. No casualties were reported as the market remained closed on Monday, Fire dept sources said.
According to assistant fire station officer Babaji Charan lenka, the fire broke out at the market at around 2.30 am engulfing around 35 shop-houses completely. After getting a call at around 2.45 am from the market committee members, five fire brigade vehicles- three from Kalpana and one each from Chandrasekharpur and Baramunda fire stations, rushed to the spot to douse the inferno, lenka said.
lenka said that they took six hours to extinguish the fire and bring the situation under control. “Shops including stationery, bookstore, steel and silver utensils and stove located at second and third lane of the market building were totally destroyed,” he added.
The Fire officials also informed that vehicular access to these locations, which were reached via a number of narrow streets, had caused a delay in putting out the fire.
After getting information from locals, the shopkeepers rushed to the haat and shifted all articles to safety before the flames engulfed to more areas. “Fire has not left any articles for me. I have lost my valuables worth around Rs 5 lakh,” said shopkeeper Gopal Sahu.
Meanwhile, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena along with local corporators rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation. “After cleaning the gutted market yard, we will assess the total loss in the fire mishap. According to the BMC guidelines, we will think about compensation for the shop keepers,” said Jena.
On the other hand, market committee members staged a protest in front of the market building area demanding immediate compensation to the victim shopkeepers.