Assam: Fire Breaks Out at New City Market in Tinsukia; Property Worth Crores Destroyed

Locals have accused the local Fire Brigade of reaching late to the venue and not having stored sufficient water to douse the flames which they said led to destruction of property worth crores of rupees. Preliminary reports said that merchandise at at least 15 shops was burnt to ashes in the incident.

Tinsukia (Assam): A massive fire broke out at the New City Market in Assam's Tinsukia on Sunday night turning the merchandise at nearly half a dozen small and big business establishments into ashes, sources said. Locals have blamed the Fire brigade for reaching the spot late despite being only one kilometer away. An official said that the fire broke out at around 10 pm on Sunday.

As a result, goods at the 15 shops in the city's New Market were gutted in the fire. It is yet to be ascertained what caused the fire. According to the complaint lodged by locals, there was a fire brigade vehicle located just half a kilometer away from the spot. But it took half an hour to reach the spot. The two fire tenders arrived, but one had no water and the other one ran out of water in just five minutes which irked the locals, they said.

Subsequently, firefighters were able to douse the fire after several hours of operation, after it was reinforced with several fire tender vehicles from outside, apart from Tinsukia, said the locals. Meanwhile, Tinsukia District Commissioner Swapnil Pal and District Superintendent of Police Abhijit Gaurav Dilip rushed to the spot overnight to take stock of the situation and started investigating the incident.

Property worth about crores of rupees was reportedly damaged due to the fire. Pertinently, in another fire incident reported from national capital Delhi, at least 250 vehicles were burnt in a massive blaze at a police warehouse in Wazirabad area. The fire is said to have broken out at the police warehouse at around midnight.