Fire at commercial complex in Ghazipur, property worth ₹20 lakh gutted
LUCKNOW: Nine shops and property worth ₹20 lakh were reduced to ashes in a fire that broke out at a commercial complex in Ghazipur area on Sunday morning.
The fire started around 11:15 am engulfed half a dozen shops on the fourth floor of the complex. Incidentally, the building also has the office of assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Ghazipur, which remained safe.
“Many fire tenders were engaged to douse the flames and it took about 30-45 minutes to control the fire. Nobody was hurt in the incident. After preliminary assessment, property worth ₹20 lakh was destroyed. The fire was believed to have triggered from a kitchen of an eatery inside the complex, and it escalated due to the blast of cooking cylinder,” said chief fire officer, Vijay Kumar Singh.
An eyewitness said, “The fire broke when parathas were being cooked. The workers rushed to borrow the extinguisher from an ENT clinic next to the eatery. By the time they came back to the kitchen, the fire had spread and it became impossible for them to douse the fire . Following it, chaos spread in the market, as the three-storey building is just at the entrance. Five shops, including a clinic of an ENT doctor, restaurant, two offices of property dealers and a photocopy centre, were completely destroyed in the fire.
Besides, some shops suffered minor damage. ACP Ghazipur, Amit Kumar Rai, said, “No damage was reported in my office, everything is safe.”