HT Correspondent
JORHAT, Dec 22: Over thirty five fire tenders were pressed into service to douse an inferno which devastated a large part of the Marwari Patty area here on Wednesday night. The fire, which is yet to be completely extinguished with embers still smoking and one house still burning till Thursday evening, razed several houses and some of the oldest shops in Jorhat town.
As per district administration sources, the extent of destruction is yet to be fully ascertained but a conservative estimate is that over 10 shops and several houses were gutted in which there was huge loss of property and goods.
Jorhat deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Barman has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and has asked additional deputy commissioner Damodar Barman, who is also the CEO of DDMA, Jorhat, to conduct the inquiry.
As per residents of the locality in which there were a number of commercial establishments, godowns and residences, the fire caught in one of the shops dealing with plastic materials around 10 pm and immediately spread to nearby shops and buildings.
Over 35 fire tenders that included fire stations in the district and nearby districts along with those from IAF station, ONGC, NRL, were pressed into service with firefighters and SDRF having a tough time to control the fire and stop it from further spreading. It took several hours to douse the blaze as the area was a congested one.
However, smoke was coming out throughout the day from the debris on Thursday and fire-fighters were still continuing throughout the day to completely extinguish the fire.
Residents of the buildings that came under the fire and those from adjoining ones were evacuated by SDRF personnel with local people and even media persons too joining in. Large numbers of LPG cylinders were brought out from the affected places.
An excavator was used on Thursday morning to break a portion of a building that was damaged by the fire to let firemen go inside it to extinguish the blaze. Senior district administration, police and DDMA officials were monitoring the situation.
A district administration official stated that as several shops had inflammable items like plastics, warm garments, canvas, polythene, deodorants, etc., the fire had spread fast and with the area being congested one firefighter faced difficulties in reaching into the buildings behind the shops.
The official said that short-circuit may have been the cause of fire or could be due to any other reason, which would be known later after investigation by the concerned departments and agencies.
The official stated that no loss of life has been reported and the administration had kept ambulances ready at the area to shift any person to hospital, if required. Power supply in the fire-hit and adjoining localities were disconnected and were yet to be restored.
Meanwhile, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa has expressed grief over the incident of fire that resulted in loss of property to several people.
Convenor of Media Cell, Jorhat district unit BJP, Bonny Saikia, informed that Tasa has expressed sorrow over the incident and had spoken to the deputy commissioner requested to order a high-level probe into it.
Saikia stated that the MP had also spoken to APDCL authorities to take note of the incident and take necessary measures to prevent possible incidents of fire.
The convenor also mentioned that Jorhat district BJP president Hemanta Kalita, who came to the incident site on Wednesday night and stayed throughout the night, has appealed to the government to consider giving compensation to the affected people.
