BLAZE SHATTERS YOUTH DREAMS

‘The Leather and Handloom Expo’ turns to ashes taking in fire from some external source

NAMCHI, May 01: They had a dream and together they worked out for it. But fate had something bitter for them – in the form of a devastating fire ruining attempts of the unemployed youth here in Namchi enroute self employment.
‘The Leather and Handloom Expo’ organised by youths of Namchi turned into ashes a day before its formal inauguration marking loss worth Rs 7 lakhs as the expo caught in flames at 1 am today here at Kazitar, Namchi.
“We all are unemployed youths. We were looking forward to become self-employed organising such expo. But the fire turned our dreams into asses leaving us at huge loss”, lamented Robert Rai, one among the organisers of the expo speaking to our correspondent today.
Presently decorations were on and the materials from Kolkata and Agra are on the way to Namchi, but the unfortunate fire that lighted up from some unknown and unconfirmed source had ravaged about 80% of the materials” Rai informed.
As regards the incident, the organisers and salesmen of the expo now smells some foul play – a result of some mischievous act by anti-socials elements because everyone was reportedly sleeping when the fire broke out in a pandal in the middle of the expo premises that cannot be a short circuit.
However, ruling out any possibility of foul play, Namchi police said in case of a foul play the fire would have broke-out from one end of the pandal. But the source of fire was middle of the pandal. “Our other duty staffs were on alert duty at the bazaar”, a police officer informed.
Meanwhile when a team of journalists visited the blistered expo premises along with the organizers found no electric bulbs or electric wires damaged. Opinion, as such came up, in case of a short circuit first the stabilizer in the expo hall would have been damaged but no signs of damage were noticed.
Meanwhile at the main centre of the fire, a piece of cloth was recovered that is presumed to be the source of the fire from outside. The police is investigating the episode and a clear picture of the same is likely in the next couple of days. During the incident the Namchi Fire brigade team and locals acted promptly saving more than 10 salespersons and one-fourth of the expo stalls