Bhubaneswar, Nov. 12: A fire gutted 29 shops and partially damaged six more at Unit-I Market in the early hours today. The market has seen 10 fires in as many years.

Fire officer Ramesh Majhi said the fire broke out around 2am and it took six fire tender nearly three hours to douse the flames.

Santosh Kumar Sahu and Baman Charan Sahu, two brothers who had shops at the market, are among those affected. They said the fire had left them broke.

Rabindra Sahu, who had a book and stationery shop, pointed at the charred shelves in his shop and said: “I have lost everything.”

The total cost of damage is estimated to be around Rs 5 crore.

Majhi said the fire could have started following a short-circuit because the wiring in the market was quite old. He added that the fire tenders found it difficult to enter the area due to encroachment on the road leading to the market and also the narrow lanes inside.

Fire personnel had to climb on top of nearby buildings to get into a position to be able to use their water canons to douse the fire.

General secretary of Unit-I Market Traders’ Association Gayadhar Swain said he was upset with the approach of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation towards the safety and security of the traders.

“The administration is yet to install fire safety measures at the market,” he said, adding that the power supply authorities should change the wirings and use underground cables.

“We have appealed to the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation at least five times to take steps,” Swain said.

Bhubaneswar mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, on the other hand, announced that in place of two night watchmen, four would be on duty from tonight and power supply would be regulated by a timer system so that once the market was closed for the day, there would be no power supply to it till the next morning when it reopened.

Jena, however, requested the traders to follow safety rules and not to pile up goods on the lanes in the market so that there was enough space near the entrance for possible evacuation in case of any mishap.

He also asked them to monitor the use of electrical equipment to check short-circuits and stop eateries inside the congested market from using LPG cylinders.

Urban management expert Piyush Ranjan Rout said strict action should be taken by the civic authorities to decongest areas near all the markets in the city.

The mayor also announced that steps would be taken to expedite the process to have a multi-storey market complex in place of the old one to ensure the safety of both the traders and the public.

The renovation plan for the Unit-I Market is not progressing well because of a number of factors. While the traders have a demanded regularisation of some 387 of them who have been doing business there for years but paying tax on a daily basis, the civic body is yet to get the adequate land for the new complex.

Though the general administration department has permitted the demolition of 49 government quarters near the market to create extra space for the renovation process, only 23 have been demolished so far.