Five houses were gutted in a sudden fire that broke out in Sonakal village in Malior-II gram panchayat under the Harishchandrapur police station in Malda district this morning. Gulenur Bewa and his two sons, Imdadul Haque and Babar Ali, have been affected by the fire.
It is learnt that Gulenur Bewa’s had kept Rs 6 lakh in cash she had received by selling a plot of land and a residential house and that the same was also burnt to ashes. On the other hand, two residential houses and two shops owned by the two sons were also destroyed in the fire, locals said.
Apart from that, furniture, clothes, jewellery, grain, aadhar cards, voter cards and land deeds, and two sewing machines that were in the house were also damaged in the fire. “In all, it is estimated that there has been a loss of around Rs 10 lakh,” a local source said. According to local sources, neighbours saw the fire in the roof of Gulenur Bewar’s house at around 10 in the morning. “On hearing her scream, the neighbours rushed to the house to extinguish the fire by taking water from the pond and tube well.
Later, before a fire engine could reach the spot, everything was burnt to ashes. The firemen’s initial guess was that the fire was caused by an electric short circuit,” the source said.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Alauddin, the husband of Ratika Aktari, the head of the Gram Panchayat, and Azizur Rahman, a member of the panchayat Samity, visited the area and took stock of the situation, it is learnt. “They have assured the affected families all benefits and help from the government,” a source said.