At least 12 furniture shops and 18 shanties of a slum in the city’s Askar Dighi area have been burnt to ashes in a devastating fire today. Fire fighters extinguished it after two hours of effort by eight units from three stations at around 8.30 in the morning. The firemen are yet to confirm the cause of fire but the police said they launched an enquiry into the incident.All the furniture shops were three-storied tin-sheds with wooden walls with a store room in the ground, a factory in the first floor and a show room in the second floor on the north bank of the Askar Dighi, city’s most old and traditional furniture market area.
Eye witnesses said the fire originated at Madina Furniture and within a few minutes spread to other shops. The damage could be worth around Tk 20 million, shop owners said. There was no human casualty in the shops or the shanties of Bochan Colony, owned by one Bochan.
Residents of the colony are mostly rickshaw pullers from outside Chittagong and some are local poor vendors.
Suspects of sabotage linked with hartal programme were not ruled out by a number of shop owners while others said it was caused due to electric short circuit.
The fully gutted shops are Dunlop Furniture, Madina Furniture, Vegas Furniture, Super Deluxe Furniture, General Furniture, Lusai Furniture, Al Barek Furniture, Quality Furniture, Chauhan Furniture, Universal Furniture and New Ayesha Furniture.
-With The Financial Express input
