58 shops gutted in Def Col blaze

The incident was reported around 3.30 am at the market,situated under the Defence Colony flyover. “The caller informed us that a fire had broken out at Mehra Jewellers,” a fire services official said. When 30 fire tenders reached the spot about half an hour later,they found the entire place ablaze.

While it took the tenders about three hours to bring the blaze under control,cooling operations went on till 4 in the evening.

“Prima facie,it appears that the wind caused a short-circuit at the jewellery shop. As the area is congested,the fire spread quickly to the surrounding shops,” said D B Yadav,Assistant Divisional Officer,Safdarjung fire station.

The market,set up in 1976,has around 100 shops. The limited space has also contributed to the flouting of fire safety norms,fire officials added.

Besides this,the shops also contained combustible goods such as clothes and tents,which caused the fire to spread quickly,the official said.

Sunil Mehra,owner of Mehra Jewellers said,“Though all the gold jewellery was stored in the safe,I lost some of my stone jewellery and furniture.”

Harvinder Singh,general secretary of the market association,said,“Of the 58 shops gutted,45 were operational. Others have bought land,but are yet to set up their business. Fortunately,the fire broke out early in the morning,when nobody was around. If it had happened during business hours,it could have been disastrous.”

Fire officials said a portion of the flyover was damaged due to the fire,something that warranted the halting of traffic for a while.

But a team of Public Works Department (PWD) officials who visited the site said they did not receive any intimation from the Fire department in this regard.

“The fire did cause a few cracks,but there doesn’t seem to be any need to divert the traffic as of now,” a PWD official said.