Major fire in Pratap Market, property worth lakhs gutted
TRAGEDY AVERTED Around 6070 LPG cylinders were stored barely 10 m from the spot
LUCKNOW: Property worth several lakhs was gutted when a major fire broke out in the narrow lane of Pratap Market, Aminabad here on Friday afternoon. The fire fighters took over six hours to douse the flames and averted a major tragedy as around 60-70 LPG cylinders, meant for use of jewellery artisans, were stored barely 10 metres from the spot.
Chief fire officer (CFO) of Lucknow, AB Pandey said the fire apparently broke out due to short circuit in the afternoon and locals informed the fire services control room after spotting smoke emanating out of the closed shop of Brij Kishore Agarwal at around 3pm.
He said at least five shops and a godown, including four shops owned by Agarwal, in a building were reduced to ashes and some shops on the first floor were partially damaged. He said mostly the shops were of ready made garments and plastic products.
The CFO said at least a dozen fire tenders were pressed into service but the operation was delayed due to narrow approach to the building. Moreover, clouds of smoke inside the building made work difficult following which only those fire fighters could enter who had masks and other equipment. So the operation was delayed for some time.
“As per a rough estimate, property worth ₹ 80-90 lakh might have been gutted,” said the CFO.
A local trader Jaspreet Singh said it was a regular affair in the vicinity for the past few years due to illegally constructed buildings and electric wire web around the market.
He said some of the shops and unauthorised markets extended
beyond the sanctioned map were the cause for this. “Though the market was closed on Friday, the fire tenders were not able to enter Pratap Market lane and subsequently fire fighters were operating from the main road of Aminabad,” he said.
Singh said a major fire was also caused in Mumtaz Market in the same area last year and NDRF team had to be called for the rescue operation but still no lessons were learnt from it.