Traders with shops at Rani Jhansi market, which saw many shops gutted in an early Sunday morning fire, claimed that the blaze could have been controlled much faster if it had broken out during the day.

Dharampal Arora, the president of Rani Jhansi market, claimed that all shopkeepers in the area stock fire extinguishing equipment, but the fire broke out in the early morning when it was close, and that made all the difference. The fire was first spotted by a security guard at the market, who informed the traders' association president about the incident.

 “Our guard, Kamal Dev, saw the fire first and informed us about it around 4.15 am. We called the fire department and the police and immediately reached the market at 4.30 am,” Arora said.

“The fire had spread wide when we reached here, but the fire officials brought it under control. I also have a footwear shop here and, luckily, it is safe,” he said.  Arora said that all shopkeepers in his market keep the fire fighting equipment and they had a chance to use them recently when they were faced with a minor fire.

 "Recently, a minor fire broke out in the electricity metre which was controlled by the shopkeepers as everyone has fire fighting equipment,” he said.

 Satnam Sinh, whose uncle runs a shop at the market, said that they lost everything inside the shop.  “My uncle lives in Mahendra Park. He has a shop in the market which is around 20 to 25 years old. He got the information about the incident through WhatsApp group of the market association. The shop has three floors and everything that was inside it was gutted,” said Satnam, a resident of Model Town area.

Dilip Kumar, another shopkeeper, said the firemen broke the lock of his shop to spray water at a shop on the other side of the street where the fire had originated. Dilip too got to know about the fire through the association's WhatsApp group. “My shop is located near the building where the fire broke out. I reached here around 5.30 am and before that the firemen had broken the lock of my shop's shutter,” he said.

 “They went upstairs and sprayed water on the shop in front of my shop, where the fire had first broken out.  This helped them control the fire. I commend the work of fire fighters,” he said, and added, he would have done the same.

 Ghaffar Market general secretary Satinder Singh was swamped with calls of concern, as many initially thought the fire had broken out in Ghaffar market — one of the busiest shopping streets of the city.

 “We have been receiving calls since the fire broke out. We have been clarifying to everyone that the fire was in Rani Jhansi market in Beadonpura and not in Ghaffar market. These two markets are separate and located just opposite to each other. The moment we got to know about the incident, we reached here,” Satinder Singh said.  He said that Ghaffar market has 276 shops of mobile phones and other electronic equipment, while Rani Jhansi market deals mostly in footwear.