Staff Reporter :
At least 300 shops were gutted and scores injured when a devastating fire broke out at the New Rajdhani Super Market in the city’s Tikatuli on Wednesday evening.
The shopkeepers and customers have been seen to throng out from the market as the area covered with black smoke.
However, no casualties was reported so far in the shocking fire incident, said Debasish Bardhan, Deputy Director of Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD).
The fire originated from a shop on the northeast side on the first floor of the market around 5:00pm, he said, adding that they were yet to know the reason behind the blaze.
The loss of assets could not be estimated immediately, the FSCD official said.
Twenty-five firefighting units brought the fire under control around 6:30pm after efforts for one hour, he added.
Palash Chandra Modok, said that panicked traders and customers came out when smoke was seen billowing from the east side of the market in the afternoon.
The authorities were yet to start assessing the extent of the damage caused by the fire, he said.
Shamim Ahmed, Abu Taher, the owner of Al Maher Jewellers, said that his shop was among three hundreds shops gutted in the fire.
He believes the fire originated in the centre of the market where shops of readymade garments, tailors, foam mattress, toys, food and cosmetics are housed.
Wari Police Station Inspector Mostafizur Rahman said that the smoke could be seen from quite far away.
Police managed the crowds of onlookers after closing the streets to the market, the police official said.
Narayan Chandra, who owns a shop on the ground floor, said he went to the washroom on the first floor when he saw fire erupting from a mattress shop.
Bablu, owner of a shop on the first floor, said welding work was underway by the mattress shop which caused the fire.
“Established in 1995, the old and new units of the large market accommodate 1,788 shops selling from clothing to toys to jewellery. Market sources said.
