30 makeshit sheds gutted

Vijayawada: A fire broke out in a makeshift shed and spread to 30 other sheds at the mandal headquarters of Penuganchiprolu in Krishna district on Sunday. Penuganchiprolu is famous for Sri Lakshmi Tirupatamma temple. Thousands of devotees visit the temple on Sundays.

Gas leak from a cylinder resulted in fire accident in the shed. Within in no time, the fire engulfed nearby areas destroying nearly 30 makeshift sheds, which were erected by petty traders.

 Luckily, no one was hurt in the accident. The mishap occurred when some devotees were preparing pongal to offer to Goddess Tirupatamma. The accident site is near the temple.

Panicked with the mishap, some devotees ran for cover. The fire department staff stayed five days near the temple to mark the Tirunallu and left the village on Saturday. However, the mishap occurred accidentally on Sunday.

District Collector B Lakshmikantam announced compensation of Rs 7,000 to each of the fire accident victims. He instructed the Additional Joint Collector Pidugu Babu Rao to handover the compensation as early as possible.