From Our Correspondent
TURA: A fire that broke out during the early morning hours of Saturday inside the Tura super market destroyed a electronics shop and damaged adjoining rooms. There were no casualties.
Early morning pedestrians out on the road noticed smoke bellowing out of room number 56 on the ground floor of the super market facing the Meghalaya Transport Corporation (MTC) complex.
The buildup of heat and smoke inside the closed electronics shop was so intense that two other shops adjoining it also sustained damage. The fire was put out by the fire department personnel before it could spread to other rooms.
“We are yet to find out the causes for the fire but we do not rule out negligence on the part of those running the affected shop. The room where the blaze took place had inverters, batteries, television sets and other electrical equipment,” informed chief executive officer of TMB T G Momin.
The owner of the electrical shop has denied leaving any electrical equipment on before closure of the shop for the night on Friday.
Some shop keepers have claimed that poor electrical wiring could have been one of the causes for the fire since it has been many years since the electrical fittings were done on the complex.
However, municipal officials have turned down such claims.
“Wirings which have witnessed wear and tear have been replaced periodically. The automatic MCB located near the shop which was on fire did not trip indicating the problem was elsewhere,” said Mr Momin.
He informed that an investigation which is being conducted by the Urban Affairs department engineers would soon identify the causes for the fire breaking out.
Another probability for the cause is being attributed to the early morning storm which broke out. Thunder and lightning accompanied with rain lashed Tura and its adjoining region for most part of the morning shutting down power supply.
“Many of the shops connecting with DTH distribution have their dish antennas atop the roof of the super market which is very vulnerable for a lightning strike,” said one official.