60 shops gutted in Kamla Market fire

New Delhi: Coinciding with the Chhath festival, a major fire broke out in Central Delhi’s Kamla Market that gutted numerous shops and godowns and damaged goods worth crores of rupees late Monday night, a Delhi Fire Services official said.

Shopkeepers and traders at the market have estimated the damage due to the fire at more than Rs 5 crore. The fire department received a call late Monday night around 1.05 am about the blaze. Immediately, 25 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, the Delhi Fire Services official said.

While there were no reports of casualties, nearly 60 shops and godowns were gutted in the fire incident, the police said. It is suspected that the cause of fire was a short-circuit, they added. The firefighters, finally, brought raging fire under control after over four hours by 5:10 am on Tuesday morning, the official added.

The police said that the market, which houses  shops selling air coolers and their spare parts and accessories. Goods worth crores of rupees were gutted in the blaze, the police said, adding that the shopkeepers and traders would ascertain the exact damage of the goods and shops gutted in the fire. 

More than 300 workers and loaders, who were sleeping or working in the market, had a narrow escape from certain death in the fire. They were initially panicked as they were trapped as flames spread to one of the market’s entry-exit points. 

 As the blaze spread like a wildfire, the panicked workers rushed out of the market using the main entry gate to save their lives. 

Pradeep Bhatia, president of the Kamla Market welfare association, said that the fire started around 1 am reportedly due to a short-circuit in high-voltage wires in an electric pole outside shop No. 128.  

The raging fire soon engulfed 60 shops within a radius 100 meters in 10 minutes. By the time, the flames were fuly doused, property worth several crores of rupees was reduced into ashes and rubble, he added.