By IANS,
Chandigarh : Furniture worth several lakhs of rupees was gutted in a major fire that engulfed a furniture market in Chandigarh late night and could be controlled only by early Tuesday, police said.
Firefighters had to battle the blaze in Sector 53 for four to five hours after it broke out late Monday.
The furniture market, which is one of the bigger ones in the region and supplies furniture to areas in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana, besides Chandigarh, looked like a big inferno as the fire spread.
The market is located near Chandigarh’s Beant Singh Memorial along the union territory’s boundary with Mohali town of adjoining Punjab.
“Around 35 furniture shops were completely destroyed in the fire. Goods worth several lakhs were destroyed as the fire spread very quickly,” a fireman at the spot said.
The fire department had to rush at least 10 fire tenders to control the blaze.
“We disconnected the electricity supply of the area to check the spread of the fire. We will look into the cause of the fire,” Chandigarh’s joint commissioner of the municipal corporation and chief fire officer Rajiv Gupta said.
Gupta said there was no loss of life or any injury to anyone.
Shopkeepers at the market said their business was ruined. They said newly made wooden furniture, steel and iron furniture and plastic items were destroyed in the fire.