Agri goods worth Rs 3.5 crore turns into ashes due to short circuit

Aurangabad, Sept 24:

An agriculture service centre (Krushi Seva Kendra) situated at Shiur Bungalow, on Aurangabad-Nashik Highway, caught fire due to short-circuit on Thursday at 11 pm. The loss is assessed to the tune of Rs 3.62 crore.

According to details, Babasaheb Awhale runs Vyankatesh Krushi Seva Kendra at Shiur Bungalow. The shop is on the ground floor and his family stays on the first floor. On Thursday, Babasaheb and his two sons closed the shop, had their supper in the house and then went to sleep. At around 10.45 pm, the fire broke out in the shop. The family woke up when smoke billows and raw smell spread till the first floor. They towards the shop and screamed for help on seeing the aggressive fire. Ironically, the two daughters-in-law and grandchildren of Babasaheb got stuck on the first floor.

One village youth dared to climb up the first floor and release the kids with the help of bucket but was in vain. Later on, the kids and women came down by wrapping up in the cloth. The news spread like wildfire and the villagers and other merchants rushed to help. They tried to douse the fire with the help of tanker water. Later on, the fire brigade tender reached and doused the fire till 3 am. The panchanama of loss was done by the revenue officials.

MLA Ramesh Bornare, assistant police inspector Nilesh Kele and office-bearers of many political parties visited the spot. On Friday morning, the tehsildar Rahul Gaikwad, former president of Vaijapur Dinesh Pardeshi also visited the place.

Boxxxxxxxxx

The victim is ex-army personnel

Babasaheb Awhale of Sakegaon (in Vaijapur tehsil) retired from Army in 2004 and then started his agri-based business at Shiur Bungalow in 2005. Five shops were built in 2000 square feet area, while the godown is situated behind the shops on 2500 square feet area. The family stays on the first floor.

The agri-equipment, chemicals, pesticides, electric motor pumps, pipes etc were kept in the shop, besides computers, laptops, shop furniture and godown furniture. Hence the loss in shops is of valuing Rs 2.90 crore, while the loss in the house is Rs 71.80 lakh. It includes gym equipment, furniture, TV, refrigerator, computers and other domestic items. Hence the total loss is Rs 3.62 crore. Meanwhile, the sudden incident has forced the family to face inconvenience.