Massive fire at garment godown

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 15

A massive fire broke out in a garment godown inside the Shera Wala Gate this morning. The fire brigade authorities had a tough time to control it. Around 40 fire tenders had been used so far to douse the fire, which was still on.

The godown belonged to owners of the Gullu Exclusive garment showroom in the Katra Jaimal Singh area in the walled city.

The fire spread to several houses located on the rear side of the godown. These houses were vacated by the authorities while a house belonging to Sham Sunder, a local resident, was badly damaged in the incident. However, no loss of life reported.

Sham Sunder, besides other agitated residents, including Seema Sharma, Saroj Rani and Dalip Singh, alleged that they had protested against the construction of the godown in the residential area. However, the authorities turned a blind eye to it and now, people were paying the price for the same.

A fire staff said fire tenders from NGOs, the Air Force and the Army had also been pressed into service to douse the flames. However, it was still on.

He said they had received the information around 8.30 am and fire tenders had reached by 8.45 am and it had been controlled to a great extent.