Property worth lakhs or Rupees destroyed in inferno

Puducherry, Nov 8(UNI) Property worth several lakhs of rupees were destroyed in a major fire which gutted over 120 huts at Soolainagar in Cassicade constituency here last night.

Nine fire tenders from the town and Gorimedu,Villianur and Kalapet battled for two hours to put out the fire, which was sparked off by an electrical short circuit in a house and was fanned when LPG cylinders burst in several houses. The fire spread, making the task of the fire service personnel difficult.

Puducherry Chief Minister V Vaithilingam, ministers Kandasamy and Namasivayam, legislator K Lakshminarayanan and District Collector Ragesh Chandra along with revenue and disaster management department officials visited the place within minutes of the mishap and shifted the victims displaced from the affected houses to a school nearby.

Food was also provided to them, police said.

UNI PAB VV 1009