Monday night saw a major fire breaking out in Old Delhi’s Chandni Chowk area. No casualties were reported, but goods worth many crores have been destroyed.
According to the fire control room, they were alerted about the fire around 9.35pm in Katra Dulia, where around thousand wholesale garments shops are located. 29 fire tenders continued to douse the water till midnight. An officer quoted that around 40-50 wholesale shops were destroyed in the fire.
“It was a major fire and it took fire fighters at least seven hours to douse the flames. However, no casualty was reported as the incident took place in the night,” said a senior official from Delhi Fire Services.
Area councillor and an eye witness Ravi Kaptan, “Goods worth crores have been gutted in the fire. A three-story building behind Katra Dulia also collapsed, which may be causing a delay in fire fighting. This is not a residential area so people had left after closing the shops otherwise there would have been deaths here.”
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba has stirred controversy after she was seen perched on a rescue platform used by firefighters while they were trying to douse the fire in the area.
The reason of fire could not be ascertained. Police said that it was too early to comment on the situation.
