‘We tried our best to save them but failed’

Among them were Lakhwinder Singh,owner of a shop,Indian Movies,and his employee Sandeep.

Without fearing for their lives and braving the raging flames and thick smoke that had engulfed the shops,the two tried their best to save the people who were stuck on the first and top floors.

The two covered their face with handkerchiefs and took the stairs to reach the top floor.

“We could barely see anything,but somehow managed to reach the first floor and then the top floor. We heard the screams of three to four men coming from a room that was locked from inside. I knocked at the door and requested them to open it but they could not,perhaps due to the dense smoke,” Lakhwinder told Newsline. He claimed to have lost his entire shop and equipment to the fire.

“The smoke was making breathing difficult for us. We tried to get face masks from the fire department,but didn’t get it. A police officer then accompanied us to the top floor,but the smoke had got thicker by then and we could not find anyone,” said Sandeep.

On the other hand,Ashok Batta thanks his stars for leaving early on Thursday night. “I usually shut my shop by 8.30 pm,but since we had completed our work early on Thursday,I closed the shop by 7.45 pm. I was home when I received a phone call about the fire. I rushed back but couldn’t get inside my shop,” he said,adding that he suffered an estimated loss of around Rs 3.5 lakh.

As many as nine shops were gutted in the fire. Fireman Sandeep,who was admitted to the PGI after sustaining burns,was discharged on Friday.

Loopholes in Thursday’s operation
The incident brought to light the chaotic condition of the paid parking lots. Fire tenders had a hard time moving in the parking lot due to the haphazardly parked vehicles. People could be seen pushing vehicles and in cases lifting them to make way.
Sources said the firemen were ill-equipped to handle the situation.
The police failed to cordon off the area. The movement of the fire tenders suffered due to traffic snarls.
A huge crowd gathered at the site of the incident making it difficult for the fire fighters to function.
With the fire tenders running out of water,shopowners had to call in private tankers.