Property worth Rs 150 crore gutted in cloth market fire
A little carelessness of a trader probably led to the inferno at the Bairagarh market in Bhopal on Sunday, in which over 100 shops and property worth over `150 crore was gutted. As extensive traffic diversions were in place due to Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu’s visit, fire tenders could not reach the spot in time, prompting the nearby Army columns to pitch in with fire-fighting efforts.
It took the firemen eight hours to put out the blaze that reduced to ashes 80 per cent of the congested cloth trading hub. Fortunately, there was no loss of lives. But a trader suffered a heart attack on seeing his shop engulfed in flames. Primary probe has revealed that a trader at the 21-year-old complex left his shop’s main electric switch on all night, which led to sparks and triggered a fire on the ground floor.ww
City goes ‘Wow’ at Tunisian band
Tunisian music band Wow enthralled Bhopal residents with its performance at the International Van Mela at the Lal Paradae Ground recently. The five-member band presented Arabic music with a twist. They started their performance with an instrumental piece, Sarab, composed in the Sammali musical form. It then regaled the audience with their composition Belkhir.
Through their rendition of Enough, the quintet told the story of their country and the difficulties faced by countrymen. They presented several other English, Greek and Persian compositions, too. The fest was organised by the MP Rajya Vanopaj Sahkari Sangh in collaboration with the ICCR.
Sensor-based water quality updates of Upper Lake soon
Residents of the city will soon get real-time water quality of the Upper Lake — a prime tourist draw. The Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board is setting up automatic sensors-based continuous water monitoring system, which will see an LED screen being installed near the lake. It will show live status of the lake’s water quality.
The new system will be installed opposite Gauhar Mahal near the Raja Bhoj statue. This will be the first time a permanent continuous water monitoring system will be placed in any water body of the state. The system was earlier put to use in Ujjain during Simhastha last summer.
Four thefts target women employees at banks in city
Thefts in four PSU banks across the city over the past 10 days have seen women staff being targeted, suggesting a pattern and involvement of possibly a group of youth. Three of the thefts took place in banks in Shyamla Hills, Piplani and Aishbagh areas on Thursday.
The first incident had taken place in the MP Nagar area on December 6. The accused were caught on CCTV cameras installed in the banks. One of them looked like a student belonging to a well-off family.
TTEs to be armed with CUG connections to help passengers
In a step aimed at rendering better facilities to train passengers, the Bhopal Division of West Central Railway has decided to equip train ticket examiners (TTEs) with closed user group (CUG) connections. These will enable TTEs to bring the entire rail network to the aid of a passenger at the click of a button. With the mobile CUG connections, the ticket-checking staff can communicate with any other railway official in the event of exigencies like accidents, thefts or fires.
