20220613 Delhi: Massive fire in Karol Bagh market guts many shops, traders say losses run into crores
India Jun 13 2022 “Building” “Stores”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 30 to 69 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Delhi: Massive fire in Karol Bagh market guts many shops, traders say losses run into crores
Updated: 2022-06-13
NEW DELHI: On Sunday morning, over 150 firefighters battled for nearly five hours to douse a massive blaze that broke out in lane number 14 of Rani Jhansi footwear market at Karol Bagh, which is close to Gaffar Market.
The fire department said they received a call at 4.16am and 39 fire tenders were sent to the spot. Atul Garg, director, Delhi Fire Service (DFS), said when the teams reached the spot, they found flames coming out of the buildings. “The blaze soon spread to another lane. By then, we had started our rescue operation,” he added.
Out of the four lanes at the market, three were affected. Several buildings have ground plus four floors and electric wires dangle over the entire market. According to wholesale dealers, the market was established more than 35 years ago and each lane has 40-50 shops. The shops are partitioned by walls.
Apart from footwear, the market has garments and watch shops. “People from all over India came here to buy footwear,” said Praveen, a shopkeeper.
Dharampal Arora, president of Karol Bagh Wholesale Footwear Association, told TOI that around 4am a night security guard, Kamal, informed him about the fire. “I then called DFS. About eight footwear shops were completely gutted and they suffered a loss of Rs 4 crore. Firefighting equipment was present in all shops, but no one was able to douse the flames as it occurred early in the morning,” he added.
A group of dealers, who lost their shops, were seen writing their names on A4 sheets along with their addresses and phone numbers. One of them said, “It was our family business. We have lost footwear products worth several crores.”
Cracks had appeared in one of the buildings due to heat. An assistant divisional officer of DFS said the area was congested and the staircases were blocked by goods. “The buildings and shops were packed with flammable materials. The fire started in one lane and soon spread to the other two lanes. The shutters of some shops had to be cut to douse the flames. Fire tenders from more than five stations were called to the spot,” he added.
Cooling operations started in the afternoon. Investigators are probing whether a short circuit caused the blaze. A few shopkeepers claimed that the dangling wires might have led to the fire spreading to the shops in other lanes.
DCP (Central) Shweta Chauhan said the fire had weakened two buildings housing most of the affected shops and they had informed MCD about it. “There was no casualty in the incident,” she added.
Web Source: The Times of India