Hyderabad: A major fire broke out on Monday in a shopping area in the premises of the famous Dargah Yousufain in Nampally. Some 16 shops were gutted and a few graves damaged. No casualty was reported.
Shops were in closure mode when the incident occurred. The locals alerted the police and the fire department. Teams of the Disaster Management Force reached the spot immediately.
District fire officer Srinivas Reddy said two fire tenders, each from Gowliguda fire station and Salar Jung Museum fire station, reached the spot and the operation lasted an hour. Most of the shops were of imitation jewellery and toys. As per the complaint, 20 shops were gutted. They claimed losses of upto Rs 20 lakh.
According to the devotees in the area, a short circuit in a shop appeared to have resulted in the fire. They say the shopkeepers illegally occupied the graves and drew electricity from the poles without obtaining permission or getting meters. They alleged that Wakf Board officials demanded Rs 5,000 for providing electricity meters, but they instead drew electricity directly from poles.
Wakf Board officials said that, on directions of its chairman Mohammed Saleem, “we stopped collecting the rents from the tenants long ago as they were installed on the graves.”
Chairman visited the Dargah and said, “We would provide alternative space and then remove the shopkeepers from the grave land.
Shopkeepers claimed they were doing business here for more than five decades.
Congress leader Feroz Khan and MIM leader Mirza Rahmat Ali Baig visited the Dargah and promised all support to the affected shopkeepers.
