A firefighter douses the flames at Bazaar Samiti at Biharsharif in Nalanda on Saturday. Picture by Ravi Ranjan

Patna, May 4: At least 100 shops were gutted and property worth over Rs 20 lakh damaged in a fire at Bazaar Samiti at Biharsharif in Nalanda, around 80km east of the capital on Saturday.

However, there was no report of any casualty.

Sources said the fire broke out around 1.45pm at the godown of a foodgrain shop on the samiti premises.

It soon spreaded and engulfed other shops dealing in fruits and vegetables, triggering panic among dealers, busy in their trade.

M.A. Rehman, the Laheri station house officer (SHO), said: “Five fire tenders — two from Biharsharif and one each from Police Lines, Hilsa and Nawada — were pressed into service to douse the blaze. Fire personnel fought for more than four hours to contain the situation.” The samiti falls under the jurisdiction of Laheri police station.

The SHO said an electrical short circuit was suspected to have caused the fire. “The damage of property in the incident is being assessed,” he said, adding that over 100 shops, both big and small, were gutted.

The officials of the district administration were preparing a list of people who had suffered loss of property.

Nalanda Sadar sub-divisional officer Paritosh Kumar said the administration had so far received complaints about damage of 99 shops in the incident so far.

He said the shops had not been allotted to anyone, as the samiti was not functioning for over five years. “Even then the administration is mulling compensating for the loss of property on humanitarian grounds,” he told The Telegraph over phone from Biharsharif.

He added that the cause of the blaze was yet to be ascertained.

Sources said the fire broke out at a shop when the shopkeeper was preparing food for himself and other employees. However, another group claimed that an electrical short circuit had caused the blaze.

Earlier, in a similar incident on Thursday afternoon, four persons died and two others suffered burn injuries when a fire broke out at Raghopur diara (riverine area) in Vaishali district. Around 100 huts were gutted in the blaze.

The deceased were identified as Manohar Rai (50), Jagdhari (20), Laxminia Kumari (11) and Sajju Kumari (9), all residents of Mirzapur village.