CHENNAI: Railway officials and commuters at the Chennai Central station had some anxious moments on Tuesday when a shut food stall caught fire.
The refreshment stall on platform 4, which had been temporarily closed down a month ago on account of alleged over-charging, was gutted in the process, but no passenger was hurt as only an empty train was standing on the platform.
According to railway officials at Chennai Central, the stall caught fire at around 1:30 pm. Railway staffers and officials rushed to the spot with fire extinguishers and doused the flames within 45 minutes. A refrigerator inside the stall was gutted.
A railway source said that the cause of the fire could be on account of electrical short-circuit. “The shutter of the stall is also bent towards outside which shows that the fire originated inside.” An official investigation has been called for by railway officials and the case has been handed over to the Government Railway Police (GRP). According to senior officials of Southern Railways who wished not to be named, the stall (S10) was temporarily closed down on April 17 after a commercial inspector caught the stall selling bottled water at `5 above the MRP.
The stall owner has been fined and warned more several times in the past, which was confirmed by the manager.
The latter, however, maintained that the stall had been closed down wrongly by SR officials on false reasons.