Fire at Shimla’s Lakkar Bazaar, 8 shops gutted
RELIEF District admin gives ₹10,000 each as immediate relief to shopkeepers; HP CM assures all possible help for restarting business
SHIMLA: As many as eight shops were gutted in a blaze that broke out in the Lakkar Bazaar, here late on Monday night.
“Fire broke out around 12:30am, while the local fire brigade office was informed around 1am. Three to four fire engines were moved from the Mall Road,” a fire department official said, adding that it took 3-4 hours for the fire fighters to contain the fire but by the time it had engulfed 8 shops. Most of the shops gutted in the fire had wooden material in the store and structure.
Prima facie, the fire started from a gift shop and gradually had spread to other 7 shops till the fire brigade arrived, he added.
Shimla SP Omapati Jamwal said the fire spot was around 50 metres away from the Lakkar Bazaar Police post and the cops with help of locals vacated other shops and houses. “We are probing the case. Initial probe suggestes that fire broke out due to short circuit,” he said.
So far loss evaluation could not be completed but the administration has disbursed the interim relief to the affected parties.
Lakkar Bazaar is a British era market famous for wooden handicrafts, the market is near to the Mall Road towards Indira Gandhi Medical College.
Meanwhile, the Shimla district administration provided ₹10,000 each to the affected shopkeepers as an immediate relief.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur visited Lakkar Bazar here on Monday where the shops were reduced to ashes in the fire.
The CM assured the affected shopkeepers that the government will provide all possible help to them for starting their business. Education minister Suresh Bhardwaj and other senior officers of the state government were also with the CM.