Correspondent
KOHIMA, DECEMBER 18
AT least three shops were burnt while properties worth lakhs of rupees and cash Rs 5 lakh was razed to ashes as a multi-storied commercial complex belonging to Kohima Stores Society caught fire last mid-night in the heart of Kohima town.Official sources revealed though the actual cause of the fire could not be ascertained, it is suspected to have erupted in one of the shoe shops due to short-circuit and engulfed the adjoining hotel and another shoe shop run in the ground floor of a multi storied building at the Razhu Point area at around 1:00 am today.
No lost of human lives have been reported, but sources said that cash Rs 4.95 lakh and properties worth over 20 lakh were burnt to ashes in the three shops.
Two shops were selling shoes while one was a hotel. Cash Rs. 4.7 lakh and goods worth Rs. 18 lakh were burnt to ashes in Fancy Shoe Shop owned by Nizam Uddin; Cash Rs. 25,000 and goods worth Rs. 2 lakhs in another shoe shop run by Altaf Hussain and properties worth Rs. 1 lakh in UP Rice Shop run by Naresh Kumar were burnt to ashes, sources said.
Fire brigade personnel rushed to the area to extinguish the fire while the nearby denizens were engaged to douse the fire. Altogether nine Fire Tenders were engaged to douse the big fire and after fighting over an hour the firemen able to douse the fire completely.
This is the second such major fire incident occurring in the state capital within a week’s period. On December 14 last seven families were rendered homeless as a devastating fire brought their houses to ashes near Oking Hopsital Kohima.
