Day two: No respite yet at Public Utility building

Day two: No respite yet at Public Utility building
DH News Service, Bangalore:
A day after a fire gutted around six shops on the first floor of the Public Utility Building on M G Road, it was time to look ahead for many of the shop-owners in the building.

A day after a fire gutted around six shops on the first floor of the Public Utility Building on M G Road, it was time to look ahead for many of the shop-owners in the building. Only, there was no respite yet, because the building is still grappling with the fire’s aftermath.

For starters, the power supply is yet to be restored. “The affected shop-owners are still shifting their goods and are also conducting checks on electric wires... power supply will be normal only by around Monday,” said Narayan, who runs a shop on the ground floor of the building.

The disrupted power supply means that shop-owners would miss out on the weekend shopping rush. “It’s going to be a loss for those shops that were not affected by the fire, but we don’t have a choice... moreover, our losses are minimal compared to what has happened to those directly hit by the fire,” Harish, an employee in a garment store in the building, said.

Goods damaged
The ground and first floors of the commercial block house around 56 shops. Though the fire had broken out only in a pocket of the first floor, goods in many shops — especially those selling clothes — have also been damaged due to the water sprayed in by the fire tenders. On Friday, a couple of shop-owners were seen taking out goods that withstood the fire to their godowns.

A few shops, including the Karnataka silk showroom, functioned on Friday with emergency lamps. The first floor, dark and still stinking of burnt clothes, wore a deserted look on Friday. While the affected shop-owners are busy counting their losses and possible insurance returns, they are also expecting a final report on the cause of the fire.