District administration conducts assessment of damages in Rhenock fire

TWO BUILDINGS RECOMMENDED FOR DEMOLITION 

GANGTOK, 03 Feb: Following the midnight inferno at Rhenock bazaar on 02 February the district administration is currently engaged with the assessment of the damages. The SDM along with BDO, Rhenock and other officials today conducted an assessment of the affected bazaar area recording the total loss of property in terms of their monetary valuation.

The assessment of damages took the whole day and was expected to be completed late in the evening. Thereafter, it is expected that the DC, East will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss on the assessments made. There were a number of shops which were razed and the inventory of their items along with other items in houses which were burnt were being recorded till late this evening.

Two buildings which have been affected by the blaze have been recommended for demolition. One of the structures belongs to Ashok Agarwal. These buildings, having been damaged in the inferno, now pose a threat to other standing structures in the bazaar area and it has been understood that they can possibly collapse.

In view of this, a recommendation has been made to the UD&HD for dismantling the structures. 

In fact the BDO, BL Adhikari informed that the UD&HD would be sending over a team next morning to start the dismantling process. As for the affected families they have shifted to the residences of their relatives. It was initially proposed to open a shelter but the affected people preferred to move in with their relatives.

On the other hand the Rhenock police has registered an FIR concerning the incident and while enquiry is still on as to the cause of the fire, the initial suspicion, as a fire department official informs, is still on a short circuit in one of the houses from which the fire started.

On 02 February at around 1:45 a.m., a fire broke out at Rhenock bazaar which gutted 11 houses/shops and partially damaged another 9 buildings. Three persons were also injured in the fire that took nearly 4 hours to be completely doused.