The blaze rages through Bhabaniganj Bazar. Picture by Himangshu Ranjan Deb

Cooch Behar, Nov. 25: A fire, possibly sparked off by a kerosene stove that blew up, swept through Cooch Behar’s largest and oldest market around 11 in the morning, reducing the entire Bhabaniganj Bazar to ashes.

No one was, however, injured in the blaze, one of the worst in the district, that gutted 500 shops and could be brought under control at 6 pm when the Border Security Force threw a cordon around the building to keep away looters.

The fire is believed to have started after a stove in one the eateries housed in the complex burst into flames.

An attempt by some shopkeepers to douse the flames that licked Nabo Dey’s eatery failed. The fire quickly spread to the clothes shop next to it and fed on the congestion in the market.

By the end of the day, the huge market that also housed wholesale stalls, had been destroyed with shop owners barely managing to salvage anything from their stocks.

In the meantime, word was sent to the fire station and the police station located barely 400 m from Bhabaniganj Bazar.

The fire-fighters who reached the spot immediately found it difficult to pump water from the neighbouring tank as the waterbody was surrounded by illegally built shops.

According to fire brigade officer-in-charge Tarak Saha, the first 25 minutes were wasted in the struggle to link the pipes to a water source.

The fire that broke out in the tin and wood-roofed single-storied shops soon spread to the two three-storied buildings, which stood close by, housing shops and families.

“The situation went totally out of control when several cooking gas cylinders burst in the heat inside these buildings,” Saha said.

“This is probably the largest fire the district has seen so far. We had to call in all the fire tenders available in the subdivisions and also from Raiganj. The army and the BSF were also called in,” said district magistrate, Chandan Sinha.

“The army used foam from fire extinguishers to douse the flames but even then the loss is huge. We are yet to make an assessment of the total damage. An inquiry will be ordered into the incident as soon as the situation returns to normal,” Sinha said.

Municipal chairman Biren Kundu said the shop owners were devastated.

A smaller version of the Calcutta’s Burrabazar, the market sold everything from fast moving consumer goods to computers, spices, plastics and clothes, utensils, grocery and gold jewellery.

Shop owners and their family members were seen sobbing at the spot, trying to retrieve whatever the flames had left behind. Some scurried about aimlessly along the narrow lanes, making it all the more difficult for the fire-fighters who were still battling to contain the damage.

“The municipality is building a new market complex along the large tank and that is why the fire brigade could not get more water,” alleged an angry trader, Montu Saha.

“The fire brigade sent just one engine as the second one was lying defunct,” said Sushil Datta.

District traders’ association president Bimal Saha said the loss could be anywhere near Rs 25 crore. “We will demand compensation and rehabilitation of those affected,” Saha said.

Siliguri blaze: A fire broke out at 8.30 pm at Mallaguri near Darjeeling More in Siliguri, razing 10 shops, reports our Siliguri correspondent. No casualties have been reported.