Around 10 thatched houses on the rooftop of a three storey building was burnt to ashes on 20th April morning.
The incident took place at Barbhuyan Complex located at FA Road in Kumarpara.
A tenant living in the complex, Abdul Gani said, “A puchkawala living on the rooftop was trying to light his gas stove when the pipe connecting the stove with the cylinder caught fire.”
The puchkawala immediately ran away from the spot and in a fraction of seconds the cylinder burst.
There were around 10 thatched houses all given out on rent and when the incident occurred most of the tenants were out on work.
The fire started at 10.30 am and immediately the fire & emergency department was informed.
Around 6 fire fighting vehicles were pressed to douse the fire.
“It took around one hour to douse the fire,” a source in the fire department said.
The source revealed that the fire had also spread towards the adjacent building, but the room on the rooftop of the adjacent building was made of concrete and hence did not catch fire.
The source revealed that the thatched houses were constructed in a rather unplanned manner and so it was very difficult to douse the fire.
The fire fighting vehicles also faced trouble entering Kumarpara as vehicles were parked on both sides of the FA Road.
Local residents said that there are many buildings in the locality which have unplanned thatched houses on their rooftops. In some buildings there are godowns on the rooftop as well.
Authorities to inspect unplanned buildings soon
An official in the fire & emergency department revealed that very soon all buildings in Guwahati will be inspected by a special squad with members from the fire department and the local administration.
He said, “The fire department has already written a letter to the deputy commissioner of Kamrup Metro to form a squad which would inspect and find out all buildings with illegally made structures.” There are also buildings which have illegal godowns on their rooftops and cases of fire in unplanned buildings are increasing, the source revealed.
In the past, a fire incident in Tokobari had already proven that there are many illegal godowns in the city. Local residents have alleged that GMC has always provided permissions to people by accepting bribes.
Illegal and unplanned buildings and factories are found on the entire stretch at Tokobari, Athgaon and Kumarpara.
The houses are rented out for a range of activities from engineering works, repair and production of small items to people using it for residential purposes.
