A loss of about ₹6 crore is estimated after a fire broke out at a three-storied commercial complex in the Uma Nagar locality of Anantapur city on Sunday morning.The cause of fire is being investigated.
District Fire Officer V. Sreenivas Reddy said since the fire broke out sometime between 3.30 a.m. and 4 a.m., all shops in the Sri Varadaya Complex were closed at the time of the incident and no injury to humans was reported.
It took the fire department four tenders, 40 personnel and nearly six hours to bring the flames under control. An LPG cylinder burst in the kitchen of the hotel on the ground floor and fueled the fire further. The personnel removed six other cylinders from the complex reducing the danger of further blasts.
Anantapur Urban MLA Anantha Venkataramireddy ensured all coordination was done with the Municipal Corporation officials.
The building, constructed in 2012, reportedly did not have any permission from the fire department, and no fire safety/fighting equipment was installed on any of the floors, Mr. Sreenivas Reddy said. “A case will be booked against the complex owner and those running businesses there for not following the norms,” he said.
The fire personnel vacated all the residential and commercial properties adjacent to it. All patients from the Kanna Children’s Hospital, opposite the commercial complex, were also evacuated. As a precaution, two fire tenders have been stationed there, said Mr. Sreenivas.
The ground floor had six shops of Tata pipes, plywoods, hardware, and a hotel, while the entire first floor was leased out to an automobile spares shop. There was a local broadcasting TV channel studio in the second floor, but it was not functional now.
