A fire broke out at Modern Dairy in Camp around 8.45pm on Monday, causing panic among residents of the area.
No one was injured, but the fire caused substantial damage to the dairy. Three fire tenders and two water tankers took over an hour to extinguish the flames. The fire brigade officials and the Cantonment police station personnel said the cause of the fire was not known.
Senior inspector Narendra More of the Cantonment police said, “The dairy is a ground-plus-one structure. Above the first floor, the dairy owner has created a shed on the roof. Packaging material for the dairy products, such as thermocol sheets/boxes and cardboard boxes were stored there, besides a generator set. All these were gutted and the iron structure melted.”
The police had maintained a tight vigil in the area because of the celebrations after the Pran Pratishtha of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya.
Akbar Pathan, a resident of the area, said, “The Modern Dairy on Dr Saldhana Street in Camp was on the verge of closing for the day. The fire broke out on the terrace, gutted the solar system fixed on the shed within minutes and engulfed the first floor. The situation compelled the police to close all roads leading to the dairy to enable the firemen douse the fire.”
Another resident, Vinayak Katkar, said, “The fire had spread to an adjacent Karachi sweet mart as well because of the gusting wind. MSEDCL officials switched off the power supply as a preventive measure.”
