Kolkata: Over 100 shops gutted in fire at Salt Lake, no casualty reported

More than 100 shops were gutted in a massive fire that broke out in the Salt Lake market here early on Thursday.

Since the fire broke around 5 a.m, no casualty was reported.

However, since over 100 small roadside shops were totally gutted, the estimated damage is likely to cross several lakhs of rupees.

After around six hours of rigorous fire fighting by 12 fire tenders, the fire that broke out in the FD-Block, was ultimately brought under control at around 11 a.m.

Deboprosad Purkait, the owner of the flower-storehouse, where the fire originated, said he heard the news of the fire early in the morning. "The storehouse had a stock of items worth around Rs 8,00,000. Everything has been destroyed," he said.

As per the locals, the fire which originated from the flower-storehouse had quickly spread to the other roadside shops in the vicinity. Since most of these shops were built of inflammable items like bamboos and plastics, they came under the grasp of fire very quickly.

The early morning wind had aided the fire to spread more quickly.

Initially, the locals started the task of fire-fighting and in that process one person, Bholanath Paik, an employee with the garbage department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, received minor injuries. However, soon the fire-tenders rushed in.

State fire services minister Sujit Basu also reached the spot at a later stage. "The fire is totally under control now," he said. The fire officers present at the spot said that prima facie, a short-circuit appears to be the reason for the incident.

--IANS

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