Massive fire breaks out in shoe market, several shops gutted

New Delhi: A massive fire broke out at Rani Jhansi shoe market in Central Delhi's Karol Bagh area in the early hours of Sunday, destroying several shops, officials said. Thirty-nine fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Over 200 firefighters toiled for nearly five hours to douse the blaze. No one was seriously injured in the fire and the cooling operation is underway, they said. The cause of the fire is not known yet, the officials said.

"A serious fire call was received from a shoe market in Gaffar, Karol Bagh, at 4.16 am and 39 fire tenders were rushed to the spot," DFS Director Atul Garg said. He said none of the shops that caught fire had a no objection certificate from the fire department. The fire department said shops in the shoe market are normally located on the ground floors of buildings while the upper floors are used as godowns.

Garg said the firefighters faced difficulty in reaching the spot as it was in a narrow congested lane. "Lots of loose wires were hanging in the market which is dangerous and causes inconvenience too. There was a shortage of water resources to douse the fire. The construction of the building is weak, so the structures have already developed cracks," he added.

According to police, Rani Jhansi market houses wholesale footwear shops and six-seven of them were gutted in the fire.

Local police reached the spot immediately and cordoned off the area. Electricity supply to the area was cut off, the officials said.

"Besides local police and DFS personnel, staff from CATS ambulance, Delhi Civil Defence, Delhi Disaster Management Authority and traffic police were present at the spot. The local police have been in touch with the MWA of the market to ensure that other shops remained closed.

"DM Central and SDM Karol Bagh have also physically inspected the spot in the afternoon," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Shweta Chauhan said. DFS personnel are carrying out a cooling operation at the site, she said.

According to the DFS, the fire has weakened the two buildings housing the affected shops. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi was informed about it, the DCP said. Meanwhile, traders with shops at Rani Jhansi market, which saw many shops gutting in an early Sunday morning fire, claim that the blaze could have been controlled much faster if it had broken out during the day.

Dharampal Arora, the president of Rani Jhansi market, claimed that all shopkeepers in the area stock fire extinguishing equipment, but the fire broke out in the early morning when it was close, and that made all the difference.

The fire was first spotted by a security guard at the market, who informed the traders' association president about the incident. Our guard, Kamal Dev, saw the fire first and informed us about it around 4.15 am. We called the fire department and the police and immediately reached the market at 4.30 am, Arora said.

The fire had spread wide when we reached here, but the fire officials brought it under control. I also have a footwear shop here and, luckily, it is safe, he said. Arora said that all shopkeepers in his market keep the fire fighting equipment and they had a chance to use them recently when they were faced with a minor fire. "Recently, a minor fire broke out in the electricity metre which was controlled by the shopkeepers as everyone has fire fighting equipment, he said.

Today's fire took place during early hours when no one was here. If the incident had taken place when the market was open, then it could have been brought under control in time, he rued. Satnam Singh, whose uncle runs a shop at the market, said that they lost everything inside the shop.

My uncle lives in Mahendra Park. He has a shop in the market which is around 20 to 25 years old. He got the information about the incident through WhatsApp group of the market association. The shop has three floors and everything that was inside it was gutted, said Satnam, a resident of Model Town area.

Dilip Kumar, another shopkeeper, said that the firemen broke the lock of his shop to spray water at a shop on the other side of the street where the fire had originated. Ghaffar Market general secretary Satinder Singh was swamped with calls of concern, as many initially thought the fire had broken out in Ghaffar market. We have been receiving calls since the fire broke out. "We have been clarifying to everyone that the fire was in Rani Jhansi market in Beadonpura and not in Ghaffar market. These two markets are located opposite to each other," Satinder Singh said.