A
huge fire broke out on Tuesday night at the Haat Bazaar area of Pedong,
23km from Kalimpong town, completely burning down 17 houses including
shops in total. Another four houses were partially damaged but there
were no reports of human casualties.
No official statement of the cause for
the fire has been released yet, but some residents said the blaze could
have started from a sweetmeat shop. “The fire could have started from
the sweetmeat shop and spread quickly to nearby structures,” said Sunil
Agarwal, who lost all four of his shops to the inferno. He ran two cloth
shops, an electronic item store and a shoe shop.
Pedong residents have started demanding a fire service station in the area to avoid a recurrence of such
incidents in future. “If there had been a fire station in Pedong, the
damage would not have been so extensive. Last night we got no chance at
all to douse the flames. We have been demanding for a fire station here
since long and after last night’s fire, we will push forward the demand
with all our energy,” said Basant Kanu, whose house is located right
next to the accident spot.
The closet fire station is 23km away in
Kalimpong town. Six fire trucks from Kalimpong, Lambazaar and Ramphu
were pressed into service and they managed to douse the flames only
after three grueling hours. “The fire started sometime after midnight,”
said Kalimpong fire station in-charge Sukhraj Subba. “We received the
information at 12.20pm and rushed to spot. We managed to bring the
flames under control at 3.30am on Wednesday morning.” Locals and Army personnel also helped the fire brigade personnel, he added.
Kalimpong sub-divisional officer Radhika
Aiyar said 17 houses were completely destroyed and four partially
damaged, but there was no loss of life. “Following a survey, we found 17
houses including some shops completely destroyed. We will first assess
the extent of the loss and send a report to the state government for
permanent rehabilitation of the victims. For the time being, we have
provided relief materials to the victims,” she said.
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders rushed to the spot and met the victims and arranged for their temporary
rehabilitation. “The fire was devastating and destroyed several houses
and shops. As per information received, the damage is to the tune of Rs7
crore. We have arranged temporary accommodation for the victims at the
Pedong Community Hall and provided them with food grains and
other necessary relief materials,” said Dawa Lepcha, the Gorkhaland
Territorial Administration sabhasad of the area.
GTA chief executive Bimal Gurung, who is
currently in Nepal, extended his sympathies to the victims via email.
He assured them of every possible support and promised to visit Pedong
on Thursday. (EOIC)
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