Guwahati: The Arunachal government has suspended two officials for allegedly failing to do their duties during a fire that destroyed 700 stalls in a market, said an official statement on Wednesday.
The fire broke out at Naharlagun daily market on Tuesday morning. Shopkeepers claimed that they rushed to an adjacent fire station after spotting the blaze but no personnel was there, PTI reported.
Moreover, they claimed that the firefighters did not have enough water in their fire tenders when they arrived to the scene. According to a statement released by the directorate of fire and emergency services, a preliminary investigation found that the officer in command and the employee in charge of the night shift of the Naharlagun fire station failed to carry out their duties adequately.
The two members of the fire services were given a suspension order, and an investigation was launched, it stated.
The market, which is the oldest in the state, is located 14 kilometres from Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh, close to the police and fire stations in Naharlagun. According to them, there were no casualties in the incident, which was discovered at 4 am on Tuesday. Jimmy Chiram, the capital’s superintendent of police, stated that the fire department’s inquiry into the incident would be followed by the determination of the precise cause of the fire.
The official reported that four fire tenders from Naharlagun and Itanagar, as well as sufficient staff, were involved in the operation. According to the statement, firefighters had trouble getting water because there were no water filling stations at Naharlagun. The fire tenders were replenished at the Lekhi Iron Factory, which is about five kilometres away from the scene of the event.
“The state government has approved two borewells for the fire station and work is likely to start soon,” it said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pema Khandu has assured shopkeepers that all possible support from the state government would be extended to those who suffered losses due to the fire at the market.