The Gole Bazaar vegetable market, situated in the heart of the Sambalpur town, was gutted to ashes on Tuesday early morning following a devastating fire. The market caters to the needs of not only the town but the entire district.
Surprisingly, it is a regular affair here in each 5-10 years and the businessmen here have been accustomed to it. Finally, it is electrical short circuit that is blamed for the fire accident though it was yet to be confirmed.
As per information, some residents early in the morning saw billows of smoke from the vegetable market and immediately rushed in to find that the sheds had caught fire. Soon they informed the police and fire brigade. 11 fire fighting vehicles from Sambalpur, Burla, Hirakud and Maneswar were engaged in the job.
The location and narrow road came in the way of the fire brigade vehicles. However, after tiresome efforts, the fire was finally controlled by 7 am.
The Collector, the SP, the MlA and all other senior officials of the administration were present at the spot to monitor the fire fighting works.
“The exact reason is yet to be known,” said Sambalpur Municipal Corporation Commissioner Bimalendu Ray. 23 permanent and 120 temporary platforms inside the market were totally damaged, he added. “The total loss due to fire tragedy will be around Rs 80 lakh,” the Commissioner said further.
On the other hand, the Sambalpur Bikash Manch activists demanded a probe into the matter. They alleged that some political leaders, contractors and Government officials, are creating such man -made problem as they are interested to shift the market to a new place.
A meeting was underway under the chairmanship of Collector Samarth Verma to discuss about a permanent solution to the problem and payment of compensation to the victims, when the report was being filed.