British-era bungalow of tea garden gutted in fire

The British-era Bungalow of Goomtee Tea Estate in the Kurseong sub division, was gutted in a fire on Wednesday morning.

Fire tenders from Kurseong and Matigara in the plains, managed to control the fire. Management of the garden has claimed that a loss of Rs 4 to 5 crore has been caused by the fire.

Tea garden workers stated that around 10:35am on Wednesday when they were at work, they heard the garden bell toll and rushed to find the bungalow in flames. Immediately the fire brigade was informed as the workers along with the local residents went about dousing the fire.

Pranita Thapa, a worker stated: “First a small Fire Brigade vehicle arrived from Kurseong but could not douse the fire. They had leaking hose pipes. Following this a larger vehicle arrived. When the fire could not be brought under control, a third was called in from Matigara.”

It took nearly three hours to control the fire. Though the bungalow was razed, local residents and workers managed to salvage some of the things from inside the bungalow.

Prima facie it could have been an electric fire stated fire fighters.

Jawahar Chaudhary, Manager, Goomtee tea estate stated: “The loss is not less than Rs 5 crore.”

Incidentally, a British tea planter Henry Lennox founded the garden in 1899. Later, it was sold to the royal family of Ranas of Nepal, after the Second World War.

It is now under Mahanadi Tea Company. The garden has a total area of 225 hectares out of which 110 hectares are under tea cultivation.