Cuttack: Property worth crores of rupees was damaged as panic gripped the Millennium City here following a major fire in a shopping mall at Badambadi on Sunday morning. One person was reported injured and hospitalised.
Fire personnel wearing masks and other safety equipment are still battling
relentlessly to rescue some people trapped inside the shopping mall.
Sources said due to a suspected short circuit the City Style Shopping Mall caught fire, which later spread to Geeta Fashion Showroom and four shops including two bookstalls and a hotel near the mall.
Going by the damage, properties worth over crores of rupees is estimated to have been gutted. The intensity of the fire was so high that the entire area adjacent to the mall was covered with dense smoke. As a result, hundreds of vehicles remained stranded on Link Road-Badambadi Road.
The incident took place at about 11.30 am. Five fire tenders rushed to the spot and made efforts to douse the flame with the help of locals. According to a fire official, it would take more than an hour to bring the fire under control.
About 100 customers and 40 employees of the mall were present inside the Shopping Mall when fire struck.
However, a mall employee said all customers and mall employees managed to escape before the fire spread to other parts of the shopping complex.
A shopkeeper informed that the Shopping Mall had no fire-fighting equipment. “Two weeks ago, notices were served by fire department to City Style Shopping Mall authorities asking them to install necessary fire safety equipment. But they have failed to do the same,” a fire
officer said.
Local businessmen in the nearby area alleged though they had informed the fire brigade as soon as fire hit the mall, the latter arrived at the spot after two hours.
Efforts are on by the police to clear the vehicular traffic till reports last came in.
