MARGAO: Margao Municipal’s congested New market was engulfed in a major fire early Tuesday morning, gutting as many as 5-6 shops and destroying property worth lakhs of rupees.
The fire exposed chinks in the fire fighting preparedness as well as the apathy of the Margao Municipality to the half a decade long proposal to build a dedicated overhead water tank to boost water pressure in the fire hydrants installed around the market.
While initiate estimates had put the loss to around Rs 40-50 lakhs, the affected shop owners are believed to have pegged the losses to over Rs 1.5 crore.
The incident occurred at around 7.30 am when smoke was found billowing from the market by early morning shoppers. A fire tender which rushed to the spot at around 7.50 am tried to bring the fire under control, but in vain. The fire which is believed to have originated in a cloth shop soon spread to the adjoining shops, creating a panic situation for want of fire tenders. As the lone fire tender returned back for refilling, there was no fire tender around the market for over half an hour. And, it took considerable time for the fire tenders from Verna, Curchorem and Panjim to reach the city.
Traders used water buckets, besides fire extinguishers in a bid to bring the fire under control, but in vain. As there was considerable delay in the fire tenders reaching the spot, traders began to salvage the goods as the huge flames threatened to destroy the adjoining shops. Traders were seen bringing down plastic sheets handing from the roofs in a bid to stop the fire from spreading. Citizens also joined the rescue operation, helping the traders to remove goods from the shops.
The absence of fire tenders for over half an hour triggered outrage amongst the traders and the general public. President of new Market traders Association Vinod Shirodkar squarely blamed the fire services for the loss and destruction to property. He gave vent to his ire when the district collector, Venancio Furtado visited the market.
The shop owned by Syed Ghani (cloth house) was completely gutted in the fire. Besides, the general stores owned by Sadanand Kuncolkar, Rohidas Kuncolkar, Mohan Gajra, besides the footwear shop belonging to Santosh Kashinath Borkar were destroyed in the fire. Joanita Fernandes is also believed to have suffered a loss in the fire.
Fire Officer Herculano Gill De Souza said the exact cause of fire is under investigation, but hastened to add that he has written letters to the electricity department to ascertain whether short circuit is behind the fire. Gill said a letter has been sent to the Margao police to find out whether there’s any possibility of arson or sabotage behind the fire incident. Around four tenders were used to bring the fire under control. Fortunately, the fire was brought under control before it could spread to the adjoining shops, some of which were dealing in fire crackers.
Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai and former MLA Babu Azgaonkar slammed the MMC and the government for the fire incident, Former MLA and Chairman of Ravindra bhavan, Margao Damu Naik also rushed to the spot and announced compensation of Rs 25,000 each to the victims from his organisation Dambabalem Ghodem. He briefed Urban Development Minister Francis D’Souza on the fire incident while seeking government relief for the show owners.
Margao Municipal Chairperson Gonzaco Rebello, Vice-Chairperson Dadi Mayenkar, Councillors Damu Shirodkar, Rosy Pereria, Tito Cardozo and Avinash Shirodkar along with Chief Officer Narayan Sawant also rushed to the spot.
