A major fire broke out at the Umswai weekly market of West Karbi Anglong district in Assam on Thursday afternoon, destroying as many as 190 shops.

Almost 80% of the properties have been gutted in the fire incident.

The exact cause of the fire incident has not been ascertained yet. While, no one has been reported injured in the fire incident, informed a source.

It is also learned that not a single fire tenders rushed to the spot to douse off the fire.

Narrating about the devastating fire incident, one of the shopkeepers told the media, “This market was established in the year 1952. As our shops were made of husk and not concrete, thus, we failed to save our shops after the fire broke out today at around 1.30 pm. In addition, we also do not have fire protection equipment, which is another reason for the failure to control the fire.”

The shop owners in a video appealed before the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council and the state government for immediate compensation and restoration of the old weekly market at the earliest.

Meanwhile, fire station officer, West Karbi Anglong, Manik Timung told Pratidin Time, “We were not informed about the fire incident, there was no phone call from the shopkeepers’ end. If we would have known about it, we would have rushed to the spot. The area is located in the Meghalaya border side.”

Five days back, a fire broke out at the parking lot of a commercial building in Guwahati, damaging several vehicles, police said.

The incident happened at the Silver Square building in Christian Basti area around 10.30 am, they said.

The building was immediately evacuated as smog engulfed the upper floors of the multi-storied structure, which also houses the office of a local television channel, leading to the disruption of live broadcast for several hours.