BAJURA: A fire swept through Bamka Bazaar in Budhiganga Municipality-6 on Friday afternoon, reducing at least 30 shops to ashes and causing damages worth millions of rupees.
The blaze, reportedly triggered by an exploding cooking gas cylinder at Navadurga Hotel, has left dozens of families and traders in crisis.
District Police Deputy Superintendent Iqbal Hawari confirmed that the fire destroyed shops mostly made of tin sheets, including grocery and clothing stores owned by local residents. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported, but the financial loss is said to be extensive.
In the wake of the incident, an emergency meeting of the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) was convened on-site under the coordination of Chief District Officer (CDO) Meghnath Pandey. The committee has decided to compile a full assessment of the damages and formally request relief support from both the provincial and federal governments.
“We’ve directed the police to collect damage reports so that we can move forward with relief appeals at both provincial and federal levels,” CDO Pandey stated.
An on-site inspection was also carried out by local representatives and political leaders, including Budhiganga Mayor Ram Bahadur Baniya, Badimalika Mayor Amar Bahadur Khadka, and former Member of Parliament Lal Bahadur Thapa.
The emergency meeting resolved to adopt a one-door system for relief distribution and called on disaster authorities, government tiers, and non-governmental organizations to provide immediate assistance to affected families.
The incident has also brought attention to a critical shortfall in firefighting resources across the district. Although all nine municipalities in the area have purchased vehicles, there remains a lack of dedicated fire trucks, hampering effective disaster response.
Local officials have urged prompt government intervention to provide relief and prevent such disasters from recurring.
Comment