Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 29
THE festive season this year has brought no cheer for the owner of the Shoppers Point at Dimapur’s Hongkong Market, opposite to Jack n’ Jill.
The air conditioned showroom owned by one Ghirdhari Jaiswal which sells factory made garments for men, was engulfed in a fire on Monday evening. An electrical short circuit is suspected to have caused the fire.
Reportedly electrical wires caught fire at around 4.20 pm in the evening while customers were shopping. The incident created panic among the shopkeepers and resulted in disorder in the market. The public instead of running away from the fire converged upon the scene.
Traffic police and fire tenders had to additional battle not only the flames but the public as well.
Within no time other shops in the vicinity hurried to shut down their shutters. Fortunately the fire was contained within the same building. Had the fire spread, Hotel Maple and many other establishments in the same building would be at the risk fire. The fire would have equally endangered the Jack n’ Jill complex, located opposite Shoppers Point.
Two fire tenders arrived at the spot, but not timely enough to salvage the goods.
The fire was fully put under control within the hour by 5:30 pm.
Though the estimated loss could not be figured out, onlookers said that it would not be less than Rs 10 lakhs. And it will only amount to more losses if the interior designing of the showroom were to be added.
The incident seems to have had some impact. Citing the Monday evening incident as a serious warning, some of the shopkeepers at Hongkong Market have asked the electrical department to immediately attend to the wires which are at the risk of catching short circuit. They added that many such wires are visible at the market area.
