Four shops were gutted in a fire that broke out near the Purnabathan and Bajranbali more at Chatro area under Dewari police station in the Giridih district in the early hours on Wednesday.
There was, however, no casualty. Three shops opposite to the Purnabathan and one hotel opposite to the Bajrangbali mor were gutted in the incident, police said.
An estimated loss of Rs 6 lakh occurred in the incidents, the shop owners said.When a thick smoke aroused from the traffic junction area at 4 AM the local people alerted the police and the Fire and Rescue personnel. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was put out after two hours of hard work with the help of local people, they said.
According to eyewitnesses, the fire first took place in a stall between Purnabhatan and Bajrangbali mor. The stall, in which the fire broke out is said to be of Karthik Singh of Purnabhatan village.
The fire spread due to the fire in Kartik Singh's Gumti and taking a gruesome form, it was set up in a slum hotel near this Gumti and a fire in the hotel engulfed two more gumties near it. In the slum hotel where the fire broke out, Baleshwar Singh, a resident of Amjora village in Hotel Godda, Godda, lived with his family.
Thankfully the fire did not reach that area and was averted by a major accident.
But like food and drink along with the items kept in the hotel, they also got burnt to ashes. Sources said that Baleshwar Singh also used to take care of his family from this hotel. Whereas after the fire in the hotel, now the whole family became homeless. Here, due to the fire in four stalls, including the hotel, two freezes, soft cloths, betri, inbraters, and many other similar were burnt to ashes for the soft drinks method kept in the stalls.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known, the police said. A team of Block officials led by BDO visited the place.