Local people said fire that might have caused due to a short-circuit caught the house of one Bishnu Mukhiya. Property worth more than Rs 50 million was destroyed in the fire and water supply, electricity and telephone lines in Ranke Bazaar were disrupted, Bikram Chemjong, former chairman of Ranke Bazaar Management Committee said.

The locals claimed fire engines reached the incident site late, making the matter worse. Local resident Sri Bista said that a fire engine from Ilam district headquarters, Ilam Bazaar arrived at the scene two hours later. Fire fighters in Ilam Bazaar said technical problems caused the delay in them reaching the incident site.

As houses were built in cluster, the fire spread out quickly in the area. Police said they had to demolish a couple of houses to douse the fire and that 19 shops, operating from the burnt houses, were also destroyed.

“We have lost everything in the fire. We wonder how to sustain without any income source,” said local resident Mamata Gurung, who lost her shop in the incident.

Ancient Pokhara house burnt down

POKHARA: Fire broke out in a house that was built about 150 years ago on the premises of Bindhyabasani Temple on Wednesday noon. Tirtha Shrestha, secretary of Bindhyabasani Religion Area Development Committee, said that the two upper floors of the three-storey house were destroyed in the fire. (PR)