Manipur: Three shops gutted in massive fire in Thoubal district

Imphal: Three shops were destroyed in a massive fire destroying properties worth over lakhs of rupees at Moijing Khongkok bazaar under the Thoubal police station in Manipur’s Thoubal district in the early hours of Saturday.

According to a report from the Manipur Fire Services, Thoubal district headquarters, the fire is believed to have originated from a short circuit from one of the three shops, a mobile, a grocery, and a pharmacy at around 1 am on Saturday.

The shops belonging to one Md. Anish was run by three different businessmen.

The semi-pucca shops were completely gutted in the fire spreading first from the pharmacy shop, then the grocery, and finally the mobile shop.

On receiving the report, a team from the Thoubal district fire services rushed to the spot, and three fire tenders were pressed into service.

But the fire had already engulfed the entire structures to ashes but the firefighters successfully prevented the fire from spreading to the neighboring areas.

Reports to the fire services were a bit delayed due to the incident happening in the dead of the night.

Fortunately, there were no casualties reported as the residents managed to evacuate the house immediately after the fire started.

A team from the fire services is currently assessing the extent of the property damage caused by the devastating fire, the report added.

The owner of the grocery shop Md. Siraj appealed to the government to provide monetary relief or financial assistance to the owners of the shops at the earliest to start the new business.