Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Apr 19: Due to short circuit which occurred at night at the temporary market building built at Suratkal in the early hours of Wednesday April 17, two shops were completely burnt down while two others suffered partial losses. At about 1 am on Wednesday, fire got ignited. Fire was caused by short circuit, said police form Suratkal station.

As a new, well-equipped market building is being constructed at Suratkal, the vendors who were conducting business in the existing building had been shifted to the temporary building constructed at an expenditure of about five crore rupees. The shops which suffered losses were dealing in fruits and vegetables. One of the shops was empty while the work of providing furniture was on in another.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, CPM leader, Muneer Katipalla, said that the fire incident happened because of substandard works without following rules and failure to obtain permission from fire brigade. He said power connection was obtained without Mescom permission, without providing for setback and air movement and without allowing natural light to enter the building properly. "Democratic Youth Federation of India had complained to district district administration several times and held protest, pinpointing these irregularities. But because of apathy and irresponsibility of City Corporation, local MLA and corporator concerned and because of high level corruption, these things were hidden, he claimed. He accused MLA, Mohuiuddin Bava, and corporation administration of indulging in corruption. He said that although the construction cost is shown as five crore rupees, only one crore rupees was spent on it. He demanded for holding investigation into the irregularities in the building, and disbursal of suitable compensation to shops which suffered losses, and not to allow the market to operate as it does not have permissoion from Mescom to use power.