A fire gutted a hosiery factory in New Madhopuri area on Sunday afternoon, in which manufactured products as well as raw materials and machinery worth Rs. 25 lakh were destroyed. Three fire brigade vehicles took around three hours to douse the flames.

According to factory owner Raj Kumar, the fire started from the office around 2pm and engulfed the entire factory within minutes. The factory was closed on weekend and only two labourers were present when the inferno engulfed the factory.

The employees alerted Kumar immediately, after which he sounded out the fire brigade men. Raj Kumar alleged that the firefighters took 30 minutes to reach the spot.

Raj Kumar claimed that he had incurred a loss of Rs. 25 lakh.

According to firefighters, the cause of fire could not be ascertained, though it was suspected that short circuit in power cables ignited the flames. Firefighters maintained that traffic bottlenecks created hurdles in the movement of fire brigade vehicles to the spot.