An employee of the store rummages through the debris on Sunday. Picture by Biju Boro

Sept. 5: A page from the city’s glorious history was today reduced to ashes with 62-year-old Lawyer’s Book Stall at Panbazar being gutted in a pre-dawn fire.

Four other shops were partially damaged in the fire, which broke out around 3 am. Police said the cause of the fire was yet to be established.

Established in 1942, the Lawyer’s Book Stall had become an institution by itself because of its pioneering work in the field of publishing.

Apart from introducing many writers of the state, the bookstall was also famous as a place where novel ideas took shape in a daily adda of celebrated writers and intellectuals.

Founded by a lawyer, B.N. Dutta Baruah, the bookshop had mainly catered to the needs of law students in its early days, but soon diversified to other subjects.

The store had a separate section for books on law, a legacy the Dutta Baruahs maintained for over six decades.

Proprietor Bhaskar Dutta Baruah, a grandson of the founder, said the fire reduced to ashes a large number of books in one of the storehouses and the shop.

“Apart from our own publications, we had a large stock of other publications as well,” Dutta Baruah said. However, the old manuscripts could be saved as the fire was doused before it reached the second godown behind the shop.

“We came to know about the fire at 3.45 am when a local resident called up. The residents of the area called up the fire station and the police by the time we reached there,” Dutta Baruah added.

He said the stock in one godown could not be saved as the doors were locked and the fire service personnel had to break open the door to get inside. “But by then, all were gone,” he rued.

Residents of the area said the fire, fed by the dry pages, spread very quickly. The flames leapt up several feet, brightening the dark sky.

Officer-in-charge of Panbazar police station, Deepali Buragohain, said the fire broke out around 3 am at one of the Lawyer’s Book Stall godowns and soon spread to two adjacent bookstalls and the Khadi Gram Udyog showroom. Fire fighters from the Panbazar fire service station rushed to the spot immediately. The fire brigade personnel had to fight for two hours before bringing the inferno under control.

“The fire spread very fast as the godown had a good stock of books and it was difficult to douse it within short time. However, it could not spread to the second godown of the bookstall located behind it,” Buragohain added.

The fire partially damaged two other bookstalls and a stationary shop. The other two bookstalls are Gyandeep and Book Land. Most of the city’s booksellers and publishers are located in the Panbazar area.

Khadi Gramodyog chairman Jai Kumar Jain said the fire damaged the entire warehouse stock, including silk and eri clothes. He said goods worth lakhs of rupees were destroyed. “The loss was mainly because of the damage to the godown. The fire also burned a lot of other clothes in the showroom.”