Haryana: Fire breaks out in Ambala’s New Grain Market

AMBALA: A major fire broke out in Ambala's New Grain Market's shed number 3 in the wee hours on Sunday. Wheat, maize and bales of jute sacks worth crores belonging to Haryana State Co-operative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (HAFED) and some other commission agents (Arhtiyas) have been gutted.
The HAFED officials present at the spot said their loss might be in crores.
Fire brigades and earthmoving machines from Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Naraingarh, Ambala, Panchkula and Army station in Ambala were deployed by the administration to douse the flames, said Ambala Municipal Corporation's joint commissioner (JC) Satinder Siwatch.
Ved Pal Malik, district officer HAFED, said, "The fire is suspected to have broken out at shed number 3 due to an electric short circuit as it was raining. Further investigation is being done. Around 20 quintal maize belonging to arhtiyas and 1,700-tonne (38,000 packed sacks) wheat and 2,500 bales (each bale contains 500 sacks) of jute sacks of HAFED were kept under the shed which caught fire."
Chemical used in sack making catches fire rapidly:
“There is a chemical used in the making of jute sacks which catches fire rapidly and these sacks were kept here for the preparation of the upcoming paddy season,” said Malik.
"Reportedly the fire station received a message of the incident at around 4am and fire brigades were rushed immediately. When the fire was classified as major, the fire tenders were called in from the neighbouring districts and stations including the Army station. Most of the stocked wheat has been saved while the sacks have been completely destroyed,” said JC Siwatch.
As per the ground report, two security guards were deployed on duty at the grain market and one of them, Jasbir Singh of Bhurangpur village in Ambala district told TOI, "When we were taking a round at 4am, we witnessed a short circuit on the roof of the shed and its sparks fell on the sacks which caught fire. We rushed to the office for picking up the fire extinguishers, but the fire spread quickly and the extinguishers were not enough to control it. Then we called the fire services.”
“The HAFED lacks space to store wheat that is why it was still kept in the market. A large number of wheat sacks are lying in the open along the railway track near the market,” said Duni Chand, Ambala Arhtiyas Association President.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) (Haryana) president Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “The markets are only for selling the crops but not for stocking them, as the godowns are meant for this purpose. What is the safety of the crop stocked in the grain markets?”