Major fire blazes through Margao's new market oHERALDo 7 shops gutted l Loss put at around Rs 1 crore
BY HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, JAN 23 - A major fire gutted a cluster of seven shops at Margao's congested new market in the wee hours of Monday, destroying property worth around Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore. Readymade garments, electronic, crockery and gift items, cashew nuts and other items from seven shops were reduced to ashes inside the shops as fire fighters and traders battled for well around three hours to bring the fire under control. Four fire tenders, including two requisitioned from Verna and Curchorem, and 16 firemen were deployed to fight the fire. The operations were hampered due to delays in opening the shutters, which had to be cut. Fire officer Babani Volvoikar sustained injuries in the operation and had to be rushed to Hospicio hospital. While some traders attributed the delay in opening the shutters for want of gas cutters, the fire personnel claimed that despite the delay in opening the shutters their operations contained the fire from spreading to the entire market. "We could not open the shops as the fire would have spread to adjacent shops," said Fire Services divisional officer, Ashok Menon. Both the Fire Services and the Electricity Department ruled out short circuit behind the fire. "The electric panels inside the Market building were found in normal conditions, ruling out the short circuit theory," maintained Ashok Menon and power department Executive Engineer Wadekar. Menon said efforts are on to ascertain the cause of fire, even as he assured to probe into reports whether welding works in the market had any connection with the incident. The fire was first noticed at around 2.30 am by a police patrol party, which later alerted the Fire Services. As news spread about the fire, traders, MLAs - Babu Azgaonkar and Damu Naik - MMC Market Chairman Rajendra Azgaonkar and New Market traders Association President, Vinod Shirodkar also reached the site. Those whose shops were gutted in the inferno were Narayan Ghodge (cashew nuts), Gurudas Borkar (biscuits), Sripad Ghodge (nylon), Harichandra Amonkar (cashew), Amina Bi (biscuits), Sheikh Abdul Gaffar and Siraj (readymade garment and imported items). The shop run by Siraj - which was not insured - bore the brunt of the fire, with the losses put at over Rs 20 lakh. Incidentally, this was the same block - having 40 shops, which was gutted in a major fire on April 18, 1999. The impact this time was limited only to seven shops, thanks to the masonry walls replacing wooden structures. This morning, Director of Fire Services, Dr P K John visited the market and took stock of the situation. He said the owner of the uninsured shop could be compensated under the Disaster Management Plan. MMC Chief Officer, Melvyn Vaz also paid a visit and ordered civic officials to clear the debris, which was removed this evening.