Mysore/Mysuru: Tension prevailed for some time at the dilapidated and shut Lansdowne Building when the public noticed fire at one of the shops in the ground floor yesterday morning. It is suspected that miscreants had allegedly lit fire to a garbage pile, which resulted in the garbage burning for more than an hour.

Devaraja Traffic Police personnel, who were on duty near K.R. Circle, noticed the fire and informed Saraswathipuram Fire Station. The Fire and Emergency Services personnel from Saraswathipuram, who rushed to the spot, managed to douse the fire and prevented it from  spreading further.

Meanwhile, a few shopkeepers alleged that illegal activities take place at the building which is lying vacant since many years and added that miscreants also break the doors and windows of shops and set fire to it.

They also informed that the building is used by drunkards, who come in groups to the dilapidated building to consume liquor and break empty bottles and discard plastic waste in the building which accumulates as days go by.