[ad_1]
The morning after a fire broke out in a commercial building in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, local traders said Monday that dozens of shops behind the building might also be affected, rendering huge financial losses running into crores of rupees. Most of these are textile shops of Chandni Chowk’s Kucha Natwa cloth market.
Rajender Malhotra, the proprietor of R V Traders, said: “My shop and stocks have been completely destroyed. I have insurance, but there is so much damage that it will not cover all the loss. I cannot estimate the exact value because we cannot go inside to check…. but it is a huge loss. The situation is worse because we had kept a lot of stocks ready inside the shop for the Diwali season, anticipating good sales.”
DFS divisional officer Rajender Atwal said around Monday noon: “The cooling operations are going on now but we cannot say how long it will take. It is also too dangerous to enter the building, as part of it has collapsed.” Atwal’s shift was the third to work on containing the fire since it broke out the previous night.
While DFS officials and police at the site said that the cause of the fire had not yet been ascertained, Chandni Chowk traders alleged that it had been caused by a short circuit and that fires were a regular occurrence.
Mukesh Sachdeva, president of the Delhi Hindustani Mercantile Association, said: “The fire broke out because of a short circuit in or near Mr Malhotra’s shop……the fire also spread to the adjoining alleys in the back, and we are not sure how many have been burnt down as it is too dangerous to go and check, but dozens may have been affected. Whatever stocks have not burned will be soaked and ruined by the water.”
Shri Bhagwan Bansal, general secretary of the association, said: “We have been facing this issue for a long time. Every six to eight months, there is a fire in Chandni Chowk. We have been telling authorities about issues like loose wires but no one does anything…nobody is working with the traders on their concerns in Chandni Chowk. The authorities should come forward and help compensate traders for their losses.”
A call was received around 10.40 pm regarding the fire and around 40 fire tenders were dispatched from all over Delhi, it said. DFS officials at the site said that the fire had been brought under control with ten fire tenders at the spot currently.
DFS chief Atul Garg had said: “Initially six fire tenders were rushed to the site, later fire call was upgraded to ‘serious’ and 40 fire tenders were pressed into action. More than 150 fire personnel were deployed and the fire is under control now. No injuries or casualties were reported.”
A thin coat of smoke was seen over the nearby park through which the DFS had routed their hoses through.
[ad_2]
Source link
