Some 65 business establishments were gutted by a fire that broke at Joy Mondap bus stand on Singair-Hemayetpur road in Singair upazila early Thursday.General secretary of Joy Mondap bus stand traders’ association M Selim Hossain said the fire originated at the shop of Elias Hossain around 3:30am and it soon engulfed the adjoining ones.Locals tried to douse the blaze with water and sand but failed. Later,three firefighting units from Sadar upazila and Savar of Dhaka rushed in and extinguished the fire after two hours of frantic efforts.Inspector Shahadat Hossain of Manikganj Fire Service said the fire might have originated from an electrical short circuit.The extent of losses caused by the fire was believed to be Tk 1.5 crore.Meanwhile, locals blocked the road at Joy Mondap bus stand around 6am demanding that a fire service station be set up in Singair upazila.They withdrew the blockade after one hour following assurance provided by local MP Mamtaz Begum to set up a fire station.-UNB
