CANACONA
Three shops were gutted in a midnight inferno after some shops were burgled at Poinguinim bazaar late Saturday night.
The grocery shop belonging to one Jay Prakash Poinguinkar was completely gutted while adjoining Bar-n-Restaurant and another taverna were partly destroyed in the fire, that was brought under control early Sunday morning. Shops located on the eastern side of NH-66 road at Poinguinim bazaar were broken into and burgled.
According to residents, some weird sounds were heard at around 2.30 am on Sunday, after which some residents came out to see strong smoke emanating from a grocery shop and two adjoining shops housing a bar and restaurant belonging to one Minguelinha D'Costa and another tavern belonging to Rupesh Poinguinkar. The residents alerted shop owners and called for fire fighting units.
While the grocery shop owner has claimed losses of over Rs25 lakhs, according to fire services personnel the losses at bar-n-restaurant and tavern are pegged at Rs 30,000 and Rs 70,000 respectively.
Miscreants removed roof tiles and broke open door locks to gain entry into a few other shops, including the shop of one Ganesh Bhandari, Ulhas Hotel, Tukaram and others. While, most of the shops had not much cash in their counters, Rs12,500/- kept inside a drawer by Tukaram wes stolen.
Some of the shopkeepers mentioned their shops were broken into but no money had been kept in the shops.
"This is not accidental fire, but someone after robbing the shops and taking away money and valuables set fire and fled", informed retired teacher Mahendra Faldessai.
Residents and shop owners complained of non-patrolling by policemen on the route especially after the Mahohar Parrikar Canacona Bypass Road was thrown open.
Incidentally, Poinguinim bazaar has several shops on either sides further narrowing the already narrow NH-66 road.
The grocery shop belonging to one Jay Prakash Poinguinkar was completely gutted while adjoining Bar-n-Restaurant and another taverna were partly destroyed in the fire, that was brought under control early Sunday morning. Shops located on the eastern side of NH-66 road at Poinguinim bazaar were broken into and burgled.
According to residents, some weird sounds were heard at around 2.30 am on Sunday, after which some residents came out to see strong smoke emanating from a grocery shop and two adjoining shops housing a bar and restaurant belonging to one Minguelinha D'Costa and another tavern belonging to Rupesh Poinguinkar. The residents alerted shop owners and called for fire fighting units.
While the grocery shop owner has claimed losses of over Rs25 lakhs, according to fire services personnel the losses at bar-n-restaurant and tavern are pegged at Rs 30,000 and Rs 70,000 respectively.
Miscreants removed roof tiles and broke open door locks to gain entry into a few other shops, including the shop of one Ganesh Bhandari, Ulhas Hotel, Tukaram and others. While, most of the shops had not much cash in their counters, Rs12,500/- kept inside a drawer by Tukaram wes stolen.
Some of the shopkeepers mentioned their shops were broken into but no money had been kept in the shops.
"This is not accidental fire, but someone after robbing the shops and taking away money and valuables set fire and fled", informed retired teacher Mahendra Faldessai.
Residents and shop owners complained of non-patrolling by policemen on the route especially after the Mahohar Parrikar Canacona Bypass Road was thrown open.
Incidentally, Poinguinim bazaar has several shops on either sides further narrowing the already narrow NH-66 road.
