Jammu, Nov 8 (PTI) Fire gutted at least a dozen shops in the historic Nehru Market in the heart of Jammu city on Sunday night, while a separate blaze broke out at the district police lines in Kathua district, officials said.
No casualties were reported in either incident, which occurred amid widespread bursting of firecrackers on Diwali.
All the same, the exact cause of the blazes is yet to be ascertained.
A massive fire swept the Warehouse Nehru Market, one of Jammu's oldest wholesale hubs of food grains, essential commodities and other daily-use items.
The Fire and Emergency Services Department said the fire began in one of the shops at around 9.15 pm and spread quickly to adjoining establishments due to storage of edible oil.
The market has been serving traders, retailers and consumers since the 1950s.
Fire tenders from several stations across Jammu city were rushed to the spot, officials said. At the site, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Vikas Kundal, said the fire had been largely brought under control.
"Fire and Emergency Services personnel, police teams and the civil administration are present at the spot. The fire has been brought under control, and efforts are underway to extinguish the remaining flames in the last one or two shops," he told reporters.
Warehouse Association president Deepak Gupta blamed the delayed response of the fire and emergency services for the spread of the flames.
"What started as a small fire has engulfed around 15 shops and threatens to spread further. This is a complete failure and gross negligence on the part of the fire brigade. Despite the fire station being barely five minutes away, only two fire engines arrived after an hour and a half," he alleged.
Gupta said the fire brigade officials did not even answer phone calls at first.
BJP MLA Vikram Randhawa said at least eight shops were gutted in fire.
"It is deeply unfortunate that this incident occurred on Diwali, destroying eight shops and causing estimated losses of crores of rupees and comes days after a massive fire in Shiv Market near the Jammu Railway Station destroyed dozens of shops," he said.
The lawmaker said that the administration should have stationed at least two to three fire tenders at each major market, especially after the Shiv market incident.
"The Fire and Emergency Services have failed to learn from past incidents. The authorities must take these lapses seriously," Randhawa said.
In the border district of Kathua, a store room at the district police lines went up in flames at 9.50 pm.
Fire tenders have rushed to the spot and efforts were on to douse the conflagration.
