Major fire destroys 75 shops in Srinagar's oldest market

Srinagar, Nov 29 (UNI) A devastating fire swept through a historic market in the old city here last night, razing to ground at least 75 shops and some houses with the loss being estimated at crores of rupees, but there were no reports of any casualty in the incident.

Divisional Fire Officer, Headquarters, Sajjad Ahmed Khan told UNI that the fire erupted from one of the shops in the city's oldest market Maharaja Ranbir Gunj, also known as Sri Ranbir Gunj or S R Gunj, at around 2230 hrs last night and soon engulfed others.

He said the firefighters took more than three hours to extinguish the raging flames. ''About 16 fire tenders and eight pumps were pressed into service to douse the blaze,'' Mr Khan added.

He said at least 75 shops, few godowns and some residential houses were gutted in the fire, but no loss of life or injury was reported in the incident.

The cause of the fire was being ascertained. However, the officer said preliminary investigations suggest that the blaze erupted due to a short circuit.

While the blaze has been brought under control, Mr Khan said some fire tenders were still deployed in the area to ensure that the flames do not erupt again.

The Jammu and Kashmir X X X Eds here picking up from para six of DR 50 (FIRE-KASHMIR).

UNI