Chandigarh: Fire breaks out at Sector 17 shop

Chandigarh, October 12

A fire broke out at a shop in Sector 17-A this morning.

According to fire officials, the cause of fire could not be ascertained. The owner has suffered loss of about Rs 10 lakh. Mobile phones, laptop, TV sets and AC units were destroyed in the fire.

A fire call was received around 9:56 am, following which fire engines rushed to the spot from the Sector 17 station. The fire was controlled within 10 minutes. However, it took more time to put to an end smoke billowing out of the shop. The shop was closed when the fire broke out and there was no person inside, said a fire official.

“We will prepare a report about the incident. We will find out what caused the fire and weather there was any violation of the fire safety bylaws,” said an official.

The Fire Department is already working on doing a survey of buildings with regard to fire safety norms. There have been major fires, including the one at the PGI and three in Industrial Area, in the city.

Besides issuing notices for not obtaining the fire NOC, the MC wing had imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Batra Breweries and Distilleries Private Limited in Industrial Area, Phase I, where a major fire broke out in October last year.

In July this year, the police had registered a case against a factory owner and the tenant under Section 304-A (causing death by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code at the Sector 31 police station after two girls died of asphyxiation and three persons were injured when a fire broke out in the basement of Vishav Electricals, an electrical parts manufacturing unit, in Industrial Area, Phase II. The incident came close on the heels of a devastating fire at the PGI’s Nehru Hospital.