Cloth shop gutted in fire due to short-circuit

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 26

A cloth shop in the Karmo Deori area in the walled city was gutted in fire which erupted here at midnight yesterday. Clothes worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed in the fire. Short-circuiting was stated to be the reason behind the incident.

According to eyewitnesses, the PSPCL authorities failed to disconnect the power supply due to which the fire spread in the shop and turned all the material into ashes.

Sanjiv Kumar, owner of the shop, said the electricity supply wires dangle outside the shops in the market. He said yesterday he went away after closing his shop in the evening. At around 2.30 am, he received a call that dense smoke and flames were emitting out of his shop.

He said he informed the fire brigade and Powercom authorities to cut the power supply in the area in order to control and douse the fire.

Though the fire brigade team reached the spot, but due to failure on the part of Powercom officials to disconnect the power supply, the fire brigade could not start the rescue work.