One labourer was killed as a raging fire charred shops and inflicted huge losses upon traders in New AC Sabzi Mandi at Sanour road in Patiala on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered an enquiry into the "unfortunate incident of fire" resulting in causality of one labourer.
Badal entrusted the enquiry to the Punjab Mandi Board secretary Deepinder Singh to ascertain the cause of fire and take preventive measures to check re-occurrence of any such mishap in future.
Chief Minister also directed Deepinder Singh to rush to the site of fire for taking stock of the situation and keep him updated about the rescue operations.
Expressing profound grief over the tragic incident, Badal conveyed his sympathies with the bereaved family to bear this huge loss in this hour of crisis. Badal also announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs 2 lakh for the next of the kin of the deceased.
The fire, that engulfed the entire wholesale vegetable market, broke out at 4.30 am. A local vegetable vendor, Raju, said that all the vegetables and cash kept in shops were completely burned in the fire.
"The fire broke out somewhere in the backside and spread to the wholesale vegetable market in less than a minute. It has damaged goods and inflicted huge losses as all the cash kept in the shops has been burnt," said Raju.
Dozens of fire tenders rushed to the spot to douse the inferno. Assistant sub-inspector, Shyam Saroop Singh, said that they would conduct a probe to ascertain the reason behind the fire.
"The fire tenders immediately reached the spot and we too rushed as soon as we received news of fire in the vegetable market. We will conduct an inquiry to ascertain the cause of the fire," said Singh. Wisps of smoke rose from the market as traders rummaged through the ashes, trying to salvage their goods.