A major fire in the early hours of Saturday destroyed 14 shops on Calangute’s Holiday Street at Gauravaddo. A tea shop in an adjoining house was also partially damaged in the fire while a car parked at the spot was gutted.
It was by providence that there was no loss of life. It is seen that several temporary structures come up along the roads leading to the beaches in the State which sell clothes, bags, shoes and trinkets.
Most of these stalls probably do not have fire safety clearance and they are given temporary electricity connections probably without taking necessary precautions.
Hence a fire breaking out due to short-circuit cannot be ruled out. Such stalls come up during the local church feast and other occasions and are crowded with people. Any tiny fire in one of the structures can spread quickly to vast areas and can lead to financial losses and even result in burn injury to people which can end in fatality.
These stalls are run by those belonging to the lower-income group who may have started the business with their life-savings. All precautionary steps need to be taken by the authorities concerned in order to prevent such fire incidents.
It would be desirable for the government to provide financial assistance to all those who have suffered loss in the fire incident at Calangute.
