Fire destroys furniture warehouse in capital

KATHMANDU, Nov 27: A fire which broke out at Buddhanagar of Kathmandu Metropolitan City-14 on Monday afternoon destroyed property worth about Rs 60 million, police said.

According to police officials, the fire broke out at a makeshift house in Buddhanagar at around 3:20 pm. The house which caught fire lies near the UN Park in Buddhanagar and is owned by one Purna Bahadur Shrestha.  The land where the house had been constructed, however, belongs to Raj Kumari Shah, who had leased the land to Shrestha. The property destroyed in the fire – a furniture warehouse and a warehouse of decorative items – belonged to two tenants of the house. Ram Khatri’s Gaurishankar Furnishing Private Limited and Man Bahadur Bhusal’s warehouse of decorative items were destroyed in the fire.

Chief of Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Basanta Lama said that it took ten fire engines from Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur metropolises and army and police teams more than an hour and a half to douse the fire.

“The fire started at 3:20 pm and could be controlled only by 5 pm,” he said, “Ten fire engines and ten water tanks were used to douse the fire.” He added that about 150 personnel from Nepal Police, 25 from Armed Police Force, 25 from Nepal Army and a few from the KMC Police were involved in controlling the fire.

SSP Lama said that the initial estimated loss of property due to the fire is around Rs 60 million. Police said preliminary investigations showed that a short circuit could have caused the fire.