Gurgaon: Shoppers panic as two shops gutted in Sector 15 market

A fire department official said a call was received at the fire headquarters in Sector 29 around 5pm after a fire broke out at the Sector 15 Part 2 Huda market.

Two shops were gutted after a fire broke out at Sector 15 Part 2 Huda market on Tuesday. No injury was reported.

Firefighters control the blaze at the Sector 15 market in Gurgaon on Tuesday. (Sanjeev Verma/HT PHOTO)

A fire department official said a call was received at the fire headquarters in Sector 29 around 5pm about the incident. Two fire tenders were sent immediately and another one was sent later as a precautionary measure.

According to the officials, the fire broke out on the ground floor of an eatery and its flames soon engulfed shops in its vicinity. By the time fire tenders reached the spot and started dousing the fire, the fire had gutted the eatery and the ATM of a private bank.

It took nearly an hour for fire department officials to control the fire. However, such was the intensity of smoke that panic gripped the area and many people located in the high footfall market fled the spot.

IS Kashyap, fire safety officer, said they are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire and are suspecting either a cylinder blast or a short-circuit.

“Monetary damages are being assessed with the help of the owners of the eatery. We are cross checking our records to verify whether the eatery had obtained a fire NOC (no-objection certificate)and was not in violation of fire safety norms,” Kashyap said.

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The occurrence of fire is a common feature in the narrow marketplace. According to the fire department officials, there were three incidents of cylinder blasts in the market in the past. No harm to human life was reported in any of these incidents.