Diwali blaze guts Chanda market

Samadhan Purti Super Bazar, Chandrapur’s biggest supermarket, was gutted to ashes after massive fire broke out on Sunday night. The godowns and other offices located in the same building, too, sustained heavy losses due to the fire. Although no casualties were reported during the accident, the proprietors of the Purti chain estimated the loss worth 4 crore.
The building’s watchman first saw the fire in the upper levels of the market, which houses garment section. Soon as he raised alarm, the families residing in the building were rushed to safety. The fire spread to lower levels and godown section. A godown of electronic goods and other offices in same building were also gutted. By the time the fire tenders reached the spot, entire building had caught fire and it took them over six hours to douse it.
Investigations to ascertain the exact cause of fire is still under way. “Short circuit certainly does not seem the cause of fire. We suspect sparks of firecrackers during Diwali night might have caused the fire,” said Girish Chandak, one of the partners in Purti Supermaket Chain.
Narrow lanes around the supermarket posed main hurdle. “We pressed fire tenders into the action at around 1am. The fire was brought under control by 7am . The lanes around the building are constricted and we had to bring down a section of a wall to force our entry into the burning market,” said Fire officer of Chandrapur Municipal Corporation (CMC), Mirza Salim Baig. He claimed that six fire brigades, including three from CMC and one each from Ballarpur municipal council, Dharwal Power Plant and Chandrapur Super Thermal Power Station were pressed into service. Cops too had hard time in controlling the mob and clearing the way for fire engines during entire exercise.
The walls of the building cracked at places due to intense heat and entire structure appeared unstable. Minister for finance and guardian minister of district, Sudhir Mungantiwar and union minister of state for home affairs, Hansraj Ahir visited the place. Officials of revenue department are taking stock of the damage, while cops are investigating the cause of fire.