CUTTACK: A major fire broke out at Badheipatana village under Binishpur panchayat under Niali block in the wee hours of Monday. At least six houses and properties worth lakhs of rupees were reduced to ashes.
However, there was no report of any casualty. The fire broke out at about 3.30 am due to short circuit in the service wire stretched from electric pole to a straw-thatched house in the village.
Villagers said Krushna Maharana’s daughter first noticed that their house caught fire from the sparks falling from the service wire. She raised an alarm following which the villagers rushed to the spot. However, the magnitude of the sparks was so high that villagers did not dare take any step.
“We informed local CESU officials to disconnect the power supply but they did not turn up,” alleged Biswanath Maharana, a villager.
On being informed, two local fire tenders reached the village to douse the flames. But, the houses had been razed by then.Alleging negligence on the part of the local CESU employees for using substandard service wire, the villagers staged a dharna at Jogeswarpur Chowk and gheraoed the local CESU office demanding adequate compensation to them. The traffic on Charichowk-Kakatpur road was disrupted for several hours due to the protest. The dharna was called off after local administration assured to redress their grievances.
“The local administration has already provided polythene sheets to the affected families and the Revenue Inspector (RI) has been directed to conduct loss assessment and submit the report at the earliest,” said Niali Tehsildar Ranjan Kumar Jena.