80 shops gutted in Chandni Chowk fire

New Delhi: It was mayhem at city’s traditional market Chandni Chowk after a massive fire broke out in the wholesale cloth market, “Katra Duliya”, on Monday night. Though there were no reports of casualty, goods worth crores of rupees have been gutted.

According to fire officials, at around 9.30pm they were alerted about a fire in Katra Dulia where there are over a thousand wholesale garments shops. Initially, seven fire tenders were pressed into service. As the fire spread to the neighbouring shops, more fire fighters rushed to the spot. Till midnight, there were 29 fire tenders working to douse the fire.

At least 80 wholesale shops were gutted in the fire. The market houses over hundreds of wholesale shops, all adjoining with each other. According to a fire official, there was not enough space for fire-fighters to manoeuvre properly.

The fire is suspected to have been caused by a short-circuit. According to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), an old house in the area that was engulfed by fire collapsed.

“The local cloth shop owners helped the fire fighters in evacuating five families who had been living at the first and second floor of the market. The families had been living there for the last 60 years. Seeing the scale at which the fire had spread till midnight, over 29 fire tenders were called in, who took nearly 16 hours to completely douse the fire. However, no casualty was reported as the incident took place in night,” a fire official said

Another fire officer said, “To douse the fire in one of the cloth shop’s site measuring 40x40, it took nearly 2,500 litres of water. The fire, which started at 9 pm as per the locals, was brought under control by 4 am and was completely doused by 2.30 pm on Tuesday. However, smoke is still emanating from the shops and we are not allowing anyone to enter the premises. As a precautionary measure, two fire tenders are still on the spot.”

S. Kapoor, one of the shopkeepers’ committee members, said, “We were about to close the market when the fire broke out at about 9.15 pm in one of the shops. We immediately alerted the fire control room that took around 20 minutes to reach the spot. Meanwhile, the locals came together and evacuated the families living on the upper floors.”

Soon after receiving the news, Chandni Chowk ward councillor Ravi Kaptan also rushed to the spot and lent a helping hand to the harried cloth shop owners. He said, “It was a major fire which destroyed goods worth crores. A three-story building behind Katra Dulia also collapsed, causing delay in the operation. Fortunately, the fire broke out at a time when most of the market was about to close. Shoppers were still present on the streets but a major tragedy was averted.”

A suspected electrical short circuit owing to the old wiring is suspected to be the reason behind the fire. Officials are yet to ascertain the exact reason. The police said that the cause of fire is still under investigation. Prima facie, it is suspected that the fire could have started due to a short-circuit.