Fire in Chandni Chowk, around 50 shops gutted

A major fire broke out in Old Delhi's busiest market Chandni Chowk on Monday night and goods worth crores of rupees is believed to have been gutted. However, no one has been injured.

The fire control room said that at 9.35 pm, they were alerted about a fire in Katra Dulia where there are over a thousand wholesale garment shops. Till midnight, there were 30 fire tenders working to douse the fire. Around 50 wholesale shops were destroyed in the fire, an official said.

"It was a major fire and it took firefighters at least seven hours to douse the flames. However, no casualty was reported as the incident took place during the night," said a senior official from Delhi Fire Services. However, the reason for the fire is yet to be ascertained.

Soon after the fire broke out, local MLA from Chandni Chowk Alka Lamba reached the spot and climbed on one of the firefighter vehicle ladder platforms which landed her into a controversy as BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma filed a police complaint against her for allegedly "obstructing" public servants from discharging their duties. It is also learnt from sources that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal summoned the legislator and sought her explanation. However, the Aam Aadmi Party defended Lamba's action, saying she was "trying to control the crowd" in the crowded central Delhi market.

However, senior AAP leader Atishi Marlena defended the MLA in a series of tweets saying that the local BJP councillor made the situation unruly by shouting slogans against Lamba, while she was trying to control the crowd.