Mysuru:  A major fire broke out at the agarbathi packaging godown of N.R. Group at Ashokapuram near the old Manandavadi Road in the wee hours of today. Electric short circuit is suspected to be the reason behind the fire and goods worth over Rs. 1 crore have been destroyed.

N.R. Group is owned by N. Rangarao and Sons and is the manufacturers of Cycle Pure Agarbathies and they had their packaging unit on a two-acre plot at Ashokapuram. The building belongs to one Jayaprakash and it was rented out to the agarbathi manufacturers to store and prepare their packaging material.

According to Suresh, General Manager of the Group, every day over 150 to 200 employees work in the packaging unit and fortunately, the short circuit occurred late in the night when only security guards were present outside the building.

The fire broke out between 2.45 am and 3 am and Krishna, one of the security guards, heard a loud sound inside the building. He rushed to the place and found a huge fire engulfing the structure and thick smoke bellowing out of the building. He immediately alerted the company officials and they in-turn, informed the Fire Service Department.

Suresh told SOM that every two hours during night, designated company employees call security guard at Ashokapuram packaging unit and seek inputs on the unit safety. “As per schedule, a call was made at 2.30 am and the guard told us that all was well. Around 3 am, we got a call that a major fire has broken out and almost the entire building was on fire,” he said.

Immediately the Fire Department was alerted and over 12 fire extinguishers from Bannimantap and Hebbal were pressed into service since it was a large-scale fire. Though the firemen started their operations early, the fire could not be fully extinguished even till 1 pm today.

Firemen said that as the factory unit stored packaging material like paper, plastic, cardboard and other combustible material, fire could spread easily and quickly. Over 50 firemen are engaged in the fire dousing operation.

Suresh said that goods worth Rs.1 crore were destroyed. However, the exact amount of damage of materials and the building will be known after expert assessment, he said. Every day, over 150 to 200 employees work in the packaging unit and yesterday when the fire broke, they had finished work, Suresh added.

District Chief Fire Officer U.A. Kauser, Fire Officers Eshwar Nayak, Mahadev Bharat Kumar and Fire Station Officer Nagaraj Urs led the fire extinguishing operation. According to Fire officials, almost the entire building has been destroyed. Materials that were untouched by fire have been shifted to a safer place, they said.  The fire was of huge magnitude and hundreds of residents of Ashokapuram and surrounding areas had gathered in the area.

City Crime Branch ACP C. Gopal, Saraswathipuram Inspector Suresh Kumar, Vidyaranyapuram Inspector Omkarappa, Ashokapuram Inspector Vinay and staff visited the spot.

The Police will file a Fire Accident Report on the incident.