Over 60 shops gutted in fire near Gurudwara Kesgarh Sahib

PATIALA: Over fifty shops and seven vehicles were gutted when a fire broke out near Gurudwara Kesgarh Sahib in Anandpur Sahib Division of Ropar district. The incident took place in the wee hours on Friday at around 3.40 am.
The exact cause behind the fire is unknown, however, primarily investigations reveal short circuit caused the blaze.
The blaze broke out after one of the cylinder kept in a shop caught fire. As the flames went into the air, the speedy winds further spread it to the neighboring shops leaving them gutted within hours.
The fire then spread further and soon engulfed vehicles parked in the vicinity, gutting seven of them.
"We are investigating into the matter. The fire spread due to winds and other shops were also gutted in the fire. Some vehicles were also burnt. The fire brigades reached within half an hour from Nangal fire station,” said SDM Anandpur Sahib Kanu Garg.
There are around 29 temporary shops being run by the SGPC, while others were being run on the rented land of Gurudwara Sahib. The district administration claimed that around 60 shops caught fire whereas some of the shopkeepers claimed the number was more than eighty.
Ropar Deputy Commissioner Sumit Jarangal, said, "The shops were gutted but there is no casaulty reported as none of the shopkeepers were present at the site when the fire broke out. Around 10 fire tenders were called from Nangal and within one and a half hour the flames were doused. The situation at present is under control”.
“I had faced huge loss amounting in lakhs of rupees. The fire brigade reached too late despite they were informed about the fire in the wee hours. Had they reached in time such a huge loss could have been avoided and the far away from shops could have been saved. It never happened in the past that fire gutted almost all the shops situated on the road near Gurudwara Sahib,” said Gurinder Singh, a shopkeeper.
No fire station in Anandpur Sahib
There is no fire station or sub-station at Anandpur Sahib and Kiratupr Sahib despite both the areas are having historical importance. The residents here have been from a long time are demanding a sub fire station to be established but all in vain.