Imphal, Oct. 29: The authorities of the Manipur Film Development Corporation will request chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to help them replace equipment damaged in the inferno at a market in Pureiromba on Saturday night. The loss is estimated at more than Rs 2 crore.

Twenty shops were razed and parts of the corporation’s office building were damaged in the fire in Imphal East district. Short circuit in one of the shops could have sparked the blaze.

The managing director of the corporation, K. Sobita Devi, today told the media that the fire destroyed editing machines, video cameras, sound recording systems, prints of documentary films and old records of Manipur’s film history.

She will meet Ibobi Singh, chairman of the film development corporation, and apprise him of the extent of damage. “We will seek financial assistance to buy new accessories,” she said.

Documentary films on eminent personalities of Manipur were also reduced to ashes, she rued. “The corporation will also start reconstructing the archive by collecting documentary films and records from private collectors.”

Celluloid films were, however, not destroyed as the prints were kept in a separate room.