‘Short-circuiting causes fire at cloth market’

NOWSHERA: Cantonment Board Nowshera Chief Executive Officer Zoofishan Manzoor said that about 300 small shops were gutted by fire caused by short-circuiting at a cloth market in Nowshera.

Speaking at a press conference, she said the Cantonment Board Nowshera would not receive rent from the shopkeepers until they were able to recover from the losses they suffered during the fire.

She said that though the cantonment board could not compensate the shopkeepers, it had submitted a report to the high-ups of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. She said the incident was also raised in the Parliament.

Zoofishan Manzoor said no loss of life was reported in the incident, but it left hundreds of people financially crippled. She thanked Rescue 1122, the tehsil municipal administration, police, traders and the general public for helping to extinguish the fire.

The official said the cantonment board had provided land to the shopkeepers, who had set up the market. She said efforts were being made to remove the debris and clear the area. The official said that the fire was caused by short-circuiting.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak extended sympathies to the traders, who suffered losses caused by the fire at a cloth market housing about 300 small shops in the Nowshera cantonment. The defence minister said the government had no such policy to compensate the affected shopkeepers.