KATHMANDU, Feb 9: A fire broke out in Salyan Festival premises in Srinagar, Salyan, on Saturday night damaging 73 stalls set up for the festival, causing property damage of around Rs 45 million.
According to the District Police Office (DPO), Salyan, the fire broke out at the festival venue around 11 pm on Saturday and was doused out by 1 am on Sunday. The festival, organized by National Folk and Dohori Geet Pratishthan Branch, Salyan, has been ongoing in the commercial center of Srinagar since January 31.
Chief of the DPO Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Keshar Kumar Neupane informed Republica that out of the 138 stalls set up at the festival venue, 73 stalls owned by 52 individuals were burnt down in the fire.
Salyan Paryatan launched
“Luckily, there was no person except for the security personnel at the venue during the night,” he said.
Although, it was initially estimated that the fire caused damage of around Rs 100 million to the festival, the DPO has now tallied up the estimated prices of products at the damaged stalls and stated that around Rs 45 million worth of property was damaged by the fire.
“Our tally has pointed out Rs 45 million worth of property damage in the accident,” DSP Nepane told Republica, “Goods such as clothes, shoes and cooking utensils were damaged by the accident.”
It was initially estimated that an unknown person may have set the fire from outside the stall as the electricity was burning during the fire and there was apparently no short circuit. However, the DPO has now suspected a short circuit as the cause of the fire accident.
“Since there was no one present at the festival venue during the accident, it seems more likely that the fire broke out due to non-human cause such as a short circuit,” DSP Neupane said, “However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the fire was caused by someone throwing a burning cigarette into one of the stalls.”
