RAHIM YAR KHAN: Dozens of shops and pushcarts were burnt in a huge fire at Landa Bazaar in front of the Sadiqabad Railway Station on Thursday. There are more than 200 small temporary used clothes shops between the railway station and the Railway Road that form the Landa Bazaar.

According to Rescue 1122 sources, the fire had apparently erupted due to sparks at an electric pole and spread to shops of the market in no time. The firefighters received the emergency call at 12:14pm. The people of the area witnessed thick black clouds of smoke billowing into the sky. Fire engines from Sadiqabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanpur and Liaqatpur, including those of municipal committee, civil defense, FFC and FFCL fertilizer factories, reached the spot to control the blaze.

An affected shopkeeper claimed that hundreds of shops were burnt and each shop had cloth worth about Rs3m to Rs4m due to the upcoming Eidul Fitr.

“The fast wind accelerated the spread of the fire which affected the 2km area around Landa Bazaar,” he added.

According to another shopkeeper of the Railway Road, the main reason of fire was unplanned electricity poles and local ovens used for peanut roasting and sweet shops. He said that it was not the first incident as he had already witnessed the fire many times before.

“Most of the shops were made of wooden poles and planks which held layers of cloth. When the fire erupts, it spreads in no time. The railway authorities allotted these shops without a due leasing process so all the shops of the flea market are unplanned,” he added.

Pakistan Railways Director Public Relations Babar Ali Raza said there was a stay in the Lahore High Court, Bahawalpur Bench, on encroachments of the Landa Bazaar.

A railway coach stationed at the railway track also caught the fire during the incident.

Mr Raza said the burnt coach was not a passenger coach.

“It’s an old coach being used for night stay by the staff of the track maintenance machine because they move from station to station. The staff members keep tools and diesel etc also in the coach. The signal system is safe and working, and only one lock was damaged which was being repaired,” he said.

Rahim Yar Khan Deputy Commissioner Khuram Pervaiz reached the spot and monitored the rescue activities as six fire engines and 22 fire tenders were busy to control the blaze.

Talking to the media, he said the firefighters controlled the intensity of fire and the cooling process was in progress. “It will take time to control the fire completely because the area is in the centre of the city and it is very congested.”

The DC said the reason for the fire would be ascertained and they would launch an investigation to know why fire incidents were happening in the area almost every year.

Over 100 shops were burnt in Sadiqabad in March 2015 due to a short circuit, causing a loss of millions of rupees. Similarly 200 shops were burnt in February 2017 in which the blaze damaged a nearby mosque, shops in a commercial building and a poultry shed. The loss was estimated to be Rs30m. Later in May 2021, over 40 shops were burnt in yet another fire.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2025