On the morning of Lohri at the 25th World Book Fair, the Pragati Maidan complex witnessed a fire in its main building at the Nakshatra Expo. The fire was caught in the adjoining store room. The CISF at the store was first to detect the fire and informed the fire tenders immediately.
Four fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames which brock at 10:30 am. The Nakshatra family had a lucky escape after the fire caught the store with thousands of books.
A police officer said, “At this point, we don’t know what started it but we will investigate the cause.” It took 20 minutes for the fire-fighters to douse the flames. The firefighters were able to contain the fire and stop it from spreading to the whole building. Thankfully, all occupants of the store were accounted for when the crews arrived on the scene. There was no casualty in the fire, the official said.
An eyewitness said that the cause is likely to be short-circuit. Mishandling of generator led to two lines of current in a single wire, which resulted in short-circuit and resulted in a huge fire.
The incident occurred when thousands of visitors were gathering for the book fair. The estimate footfall for a day at the book fair reaches 60,000 easily. Many public spaces in Delhi lack fire safety clearances, which include heavily crowded places like Hauz Khas and Khan Market. Many people have lost their lives in the past 10 years due to fire accidents in Delhi.