Jammu: Panic gripped Shalimar locality in the heart of the city on Wednesday when dumped garbage inside a sewage drain caught fire, officials said.
The problem started when smoke started coming out from the mainholes covering the drain and also filling the houses in the locality adjacent to Indira Chowk around 1.45 pm, the officials said.
“We received a call and rushed fire tenders to fill the drain with water to put off the smouldering fire…we are still on the job,” an official of the Fire and Emergency Services said four hours after the incident.
Requesting people not to dump garbage inside drains in future, he said the waste material caught fire and the smoke filled the atmosphere, including the house-holds that have connected their kitchen drains with the main sewage through pipes.
Some residents claimed that their plastic pipes at their houses melted due to overheating.
The entire area including the locality opposite SMGS Hospital’s main gate was affected by the smoke emanating from the drain, forcing the residents to come out of their homes, the officials said.
