30 Houses Gutted in Manipur Fire

Firemen and local residents try to douse the blaze at the 2nd Manipur Rifles battalion complex in Imphal on Monday.

Imphal, Aug 3 : A fire reduced 30 residential quarters in the 2nd Manipur Rifles battalion complex here to ashes this morning. Two persons received burn injuries.

Police said the fire broke out at 7.25am from one of the quarters and spread quickly to the adjoining ones.

The police and authorities of the 2nd Manipur Rifles believe the cause of the fire was either explosion of a cooking gas cylinder or a spark from petrol stored at one of the quarters belonging to a havildar, Salam Jeevan Singh.

Eyewitnesses said the fire broke out while the havildar was pouring petrol from a container kept at his quarters for his car, which was parked in front of the building. He sustained 70 per cent burn injuries.

A woman, who lived in the neighbourhood, also received 25 per cent burn injuries. Both were admitted to Shija Hospitals on the outskirts of the city.

Besides the buildings, two cars, including the one belonging to the havildar, a motorcycle, a scooter, two mopeds and household properties, including computer sets, TV sets, refrigerators and valuables like gold ornaments and cash were gutted. The fire department said it would take some more time to assess the exact loss of property.

Six fire tenders fought the inferno for more than two-and-a-half hours before the blaze could be put off and prevented from spreading to the other quarters nearby.

The commandant of the battalion, N. Satrajit Singh, said, “It is a disaster. I was out of the battalion headquarters when the incident took place. I rushed back on getting the information and found the 30 quarters gutted completely. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained. Some said the fire broke out after a gas cylinder exploded while others said it was from petrol. An inquiry will be ordered.”

The homeless personnel and their family members have been shifted temporarily to two barracks constructed recently inside the battalion headquarters complex to house police trainees.

On getting information of the fire, a police team visited the spot and seized several containers of petrol and diesel kept at the quarters.

The minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, Yumkham Erabot Singh, also went to the spot. He said an inquiry would be conducted to find out why petrol and diesel were illegally stored at the family quarters and action would be taken if any of the personnel was found to be involved in black marketing.

The commandant, however, clarified that some of the drivers often kept petrol and diesel for emergency as fuel was not available easily.