Fire breaks out in Bhubaneswar market, 30 shops gutted

Bhubaneswar, Oct 22 (PTI) A fire broke out at the Unit-I Haat, the largest daily market in the Odisha capital, here on Wednesday, destroying around 30 shops and damaging property worth crores of rupees, officials said.

There were no reports of casualties or injuries in the incident, which required more than two hours to be brought under control, they said.

Chief Fire Officer (Odisha) Ramesh Chandra Majhi said the blaze, which started in one of the grocery shops around 2.20 pm, quickly spread to nearby stores due to the presence of inflammable materials.

As many as 11 fire tenders and 140 personnel were deployed to contain the blaze, Majhi said.

He added that the fire station received information around 2.40 pm and firefighters reached the site within five minutes.

He said the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Sulochana Das said unorganised layout of the shops made it difficult for the fire teams to douse the flames. PTI AAM AAM MNB