Ancient Budhwar Peth wada gutted

An old wada in Budhwar Peth was gutted in a massive that fire broke out in the wee hours of Friday. The Fire Brigade doused the fire in half an hour. No injuries have been reported but a shop on the ground floor reported loss of goods worth Rs 30 lakh.

The Olympia wada was built in the year 1928. It caught fire at around 3 am. The wada had been declared as dilapidated by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), and notice had been served notice to the owner of the wada, to demolish the structure. Two floors of the three-storey wada were vacant, and there was a hardware shop and godown on the ground floor. The fire spread rapidly, causing major damage to the two-storey wada, and wooden furniture and the goods in the godown were destroyed. The cause of the fire is not known.

PMC Chief Fire Officer Prashant Ranpise said, “Fortunately nobody was injured but the goods in the godown at the ground floor were destroyed. Due to the wooden structure and rubber mats and pipes, the fire spread rapidly. It took four fire tenders and two water tankers to douse the fire. The situation was brought under control within 30 minutes, but cooling took more time. Initially two fire tenders were sent after receiving a call at 3.44 am, but two more fire tenders were sent later to bring the fire under control.”

Owner of the wada, Quresh Poonawala said, “I don’t have any idea about the incident and came to know about it in the morning after getting a call from other shop owners in the area.” Asked about the notice issued by PMC for demolishing the structure, Poonawala said, “Yes, I had received the notice but have not acted on it.

Faraskhana Police Station Police Inspector Rajendra Chavan said, “No injuries have been reported, We learnt about the incident at 3.00 am. MSEB officials will be coming to disconnect the electricity supply, and further investigation is on to find the cause of the fire.”

Owner of MS Kashinath Mahadev Jadhav godown, Suresh Shah, said, “There was around Rs 40 lakh worth of goods in the godown, and we are not aware about the amount of goods destroyed. Fortunately there was no untoward incident and human loss. I am not aware about the cause of the fire.”

vicky.pathare@goldensparrow.com

Originally published on The Golden Sparrow