Fire breaks out in furniture market near metro station in Delhi; services disrupted

Kalindi Kunj: A major fire broke out at a furniture market near Kalindi Kunj metro station in south Delhi early Friday, prompting DMRC authorities to suspend metro services on a section of the Magenta Line for nearly four hours, officials said.

However, no one has been injured in the incident, fire officials said. The blaze was reported at 5.55 am and 17 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames, Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg said.

Metro services which began early on Friday to facilitate passengers in reaching venues for International Yoga Day events, suffered a major disruption on the Magneta Line due to the incident. Delhi Metro's Magenta Line connects Janakpuri West in Delhi and Botanical Garden in Noida.

The fire officials said flames from the blaze had spread to pillar numbers 205 and 206 as well, so the metro officials were also alerted to carry out a thorough check to ensure public safety.

"Soon after the incident was reported, movement of trains were stopped temporarily between Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh and Kalindi Kunj metro stations due to smoke and fire from underneath the aqueduct. Short loops were run between Janakpuri West and Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh till normal services were resumed," a senior Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DRMC) official said.

"There was no service between Kalindi Kunj and Botanical Garden stations temporarily," the DMRC had said soon after the fire. Botanical Garden station is an interchange facility between Blue Line and Magenta Line. The Blue Line connects Dwarka in Delhi to Electronic City in Noida.

After about four hours, the DMRC tweeted, "Train services have resumed between Botanical Garden and Jasola Vihar Shaheen Bagh." However, it advised passengers earlier to use Blue Line to continue their journey.

"The furniture market is spread over 2,000 square yards and the fire had spread rapidly as a large amount of wood and plastic material was stored in the area. Several furniture shops were gutted. However, no one was injured as the fire broke out early morning and the shops were yet to open," a senior official said.

Police and DMRC officials were at the spot and nearly 70 firefighting officials carried out the operation. The fire was brought under control by 7.45 am. However, four fire tenders were still at the spot carrying out cooling process, officials said.