Rajpura: Four huts of farmers, a tractor and trolley along with sleeping mattresses and bags of clothes were destroyed in a sudden fire during the ongoing farmers' agitation for their demands at the Shambhu Barrier, the entrance gate of Punjab. Due to the fire around 3 pm, other important items were burnt to ashes, but there was no loss of life. Four fire brigade vehicles brought the fire under control.
According to the information received, during the farmers' movement, a stage was being conducted at Shambhu Barrier as usual, in which thousands of farmers were listening to the views of farmer leaders from the stage. A sudden fire broke out in the slums at around three in the afternoon. The fire was so intense that it engulfed about 4 nearby slums.
Electrical short circuit is being said to be the reason behind this fire incident. To control the fire, the farmers present on the spot started throwing water, but within no time 4 vehicles of the fire brigade reached and the firefighters controlled the fire with great effort. A tractor of Sartaj Singh, resident of Bohar, Amritsar, a trolley of Gurdas Singh, resident of Mashoa district, Amritsar, the belongings of Kashmir Singh, resident of Hoshiarpur, including sleeping mattresses, clothes bags, utensils etc., including tractor trolleys and other belongings of dozens of farmers got burnt in the fire. Farmers have suffered losses worth lakhs of rupees.
Farmers present on the spot say that if the fire was not controlled for some time, there could have been huge loss.