Devastated by a major fire which broke out in the busy Indira Market on Saturday night, the shopkeepers whose shops were destroyed in the fire are now hoping that the State Government would provide them adequate compensation. The fire broke out at around 9.30 pm on Saturday and soon engulfed seven shops located near Dhara Police check post. The fire caused by a short circuit spread through a series of hoardings placed above the shops.
Seven fire fighters were pressed in to the service which stopped the fire from spreading further. Soon after the fire irate shopkeeper shouted slogans against the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl) and demanded compensation for their losses. The shops of two brothers - Amit and Virendra located close to each other were completely destroyed in fire.
A sobbing Amit said the fire could have been controlled had the power department personnel stopped the power supply soon after the incident. The eyewitnesses also supported his views. The power was switched off at 10 pm even though the officials were informed promptly. The delay ensured that the firefighters started their work late.
Ashu Sharma, a readymade garment shop owner, said that he had incurred a loss of Rs3.50 lakh in the fire. Pradeep Sonekar, the owner of ‘Shiv Collection’ a shop selling belts and purses said that his loss is at around Rs1.5 lakh. A worried Sonekar said that he is worried as how would he manage his family now. Interestingly, all the shopkeepers inquired revealed that they had no fire insurance cover on their shops.
The president of Vyapar Mandal Umesh Agarwal said the small shopkeepers generally keep away from insuring their goods due to many formalities and paper work involved. On Sunday, the Rajpur road MlA Rajkumar visited the area and assured the shopkeepers that effort to provide adequate compensation to them would be made. He directed the power department officials to start the process of putting all the cables below the ground as the fire was caused by loose power cables.