Hyderabad, May 3
Asia’s largest red chilli market yard was gutted in a major fire in the
coastal Andhra city of Guntur today. Though there were no casualties, the
leaping flames destroyed over 2 lakh bags of chillis stocked in the market yard
spread over 60 acres.
Clouds of acrid chilli smoke enveloped the area as fire-fighters struggled to contain the blaze that broke out at 10 am due to short-circuit and soon engulfed the market.
Over 450 shops of chilli commission agents and two lakh bags of chilli were reduced to ashes as the fire spread fast over the market yard due to strong winds.
Nearly 200 huts in the close vicinity, a branch of a nationalised bank and cold storage units located within the market complex, were also destroyed in the fire.
A preliminary estimate of the loss is put at Rs 70 crore. The fire started after a lorry, carrying a chilli consignment, hit an electrical pole causing the short-circuit.
The state Director General of Fire Services, Aruna Bahuguna, said 15 fire tenders had been pressed into service to control the fire that triggered panic among residents in the nearby colonies.
Even after hours of efforts, the fire engines could not control the raging flames as their task was hampered by the chilli smoke. A large number of farmers thronged the market yard and pleaded with the authorities to pay compensation for the loss of their hard-earned produce.
Guntur, the largest chilli producer in India accounting for 46 per cent of the total production, is a major hub for chilli trade with farmers from Andhra Pradesh and also neighbouring states using it as a platform to sell their chilli stocks. Several water tankers from neighbouring Krishna and Prakasam districts were pressed into service to douse the flames.
The Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who is in New Delhi on an official visit, reviewed the situation over phone and directed the authorities to take all necessary measures to help the farmers and control the flames.
He also ordered a thorough inquiry into the incident. Reddy, who is expected to visit the spot tomorrow, put the loss at Rs 20 crore as per the preliminary assessment by the district authorities.
