Mysore/Mysuru: Three stalls of Dasara Exhibition, next to the Office of the Karnataka Exhibition Authority (KEA) Chairman and CEO, were gutted in a major fire this morning and short-circuit is suspected to be the reason.

Thick smoke and flames bellowed out of the buildings at around 7 am and as the stalls were full of combustible materials like books, clothes, posters, awareness banners, flex banners and other paraphernalia, everything was destroyed and only the skeleton of the stalls remained after fire tenders finished the extinguishing task.

Fortunately, the fire was located at a distance from the regular on-going Dasara consumer exhibition where hundreds of stalls have been set up.

If the fire was to strike those stalls, there was a possibility of many casualties and injuries as merchants and their assistants slept in those stalls with their materials worth crores of rupees.

The stalls, set up in an area of over 200×50 ft, were occupied by the Traffic Police and Cyber Crime Wing of the City Police, Women and Child Development Department and the District Legal Services Authority.

While the Cyber Crime stall had many banners, posters and awareness materials including computers and television sets, the Women and Child Development Department had many awareness posters, cloth banners and art works drawn by children.

The stall of the Legal Services Authority had many legal books and all were reduced to ashes. The stalls are next to the Offices of the KEA Chairman and CEO and only one wall separated them. The fire, however, did not spread to their Offices.

As soon as the fire was noticed, the Fire and Emergency Services Department at Saraswathipuram was informed and three fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames. But though the fire tenders arrived as soon as they were informed, most of the stalls were destroyed.

It is suspected that a TV set in the stall that was not unplugged from the power cable caused the fire and flames engulfed the stalls soon due to combustible materials. Luckily there was no one sleeping in these stalls. The portion that was destroyed is an old building and the KEA had plans to demolish the old structure and build a concrete structure.

Nazarbad Inspector Jeevan and staff were present when the flames were being extinguished. The extent of damage will be known only after assessment and many of the items that were burnt, except legal books, computers and TV, cannot be quantified with money.

Reacting on the fire, KEA Chairman Mirle Srinivas Gowda told Star of Mysore that the fire has been extinguished now and the area is being cleared. “We are glad that there has been no loss of life and no one was injured as the fire did not spread. We will send a proposal to the Government to demolish the old structure and construct a new one,” he said.