A major fire broke out at the shopping suburb of Fashion Street in the early hours of Sunday. More than 17 stalls were gutted and shopkeepers estimated the loss at over Rs70 lakh. Though the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the police suspect that prima facie, it was a short circuit.
The electricity supply was cut off for nearly the entire Pune cantonment area for several hours after the fire broke out. However, some of the local shopkeepers alleged sabotage and the police have recovered closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footage from the spots and are scrutinising it to see if fire was set on purpose.
A total of 448 small and big stalls conduct their business at Fashion Street, which is located off East Street. The fire broke out at the stalls in the new lane coming up over the last three years.
Prakash Gore, fire station officer, said, “We received a call at 4.45 am on Sunday and alerted the Cantonment fire brigade that rushed to the spot with one fire tender and one fire tanker. Later two more fire tenders and fire tankers were rushed to the spot as the fire was spreading. The lane was narrow and we couldn’t enter the lanes and bylanes, so we joined four hoses and managed to douse the fire by 5.30 am. We noticed that nearby tea stalls had four LPG cylinders tied with chains to poles, but luckily, before a blast could take place, we managed to take the four gas cylinders outside and a major disaster was avoided.”
He added, “We are yet to draw a conclusion of how the fire broke out.”
Ameen Shaikh, who lost goods worth more than Rs10 lakh, said, “I have two stalls and recently I had spent Rs3.5 lakh for the interior of my stalls, so that it becomes more attractive as the sales are mostly in Christmas. Last night, I got my stock of branded jeans, winter jackets and party wear dresses but all have landed in ashes. Daily I earn Rs10,000 to 12,000. But now I have start from zero.” MG Road Hawkers Association member Yusuf Khan said, “More than 17 stalls have been gutted and damage of more than Rs70 lakh has to be borne by the stall owners. The stalls at which the fire broke out were newly set up after the orders were passed by the court. We demand an inquiry in this regard as there are chances that someone might have done it on purpose.”
Mazhar Qureshi, who is incharge of the security of Fashion Street said, “There are some chances that the fire was due to a short circuit. We turn off the main switch through which all 500 stalls get electricity.”
Nitin Jadhav, inspector (crime) of Cantonment police station said, “We have recovered the footage from the CCTV camera placed by the Pune Cantonment Board. We are scrutinising it. The fire broke out near the electricity meters so we have called Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited officials to inspect the spot.”
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