Wooden furniture and raw materials worth nearly Rs. 40 lakh was reduced to ashes in a fire at the Teja Furniture godown on the Habeebullah street in Kadapa. Three cars and a van parked at an adjoining automobile shed were also damaged.
The nearby residents saw fire billowing from the godown at around 00.30 a.m. The shop owner, Pamidi Venkata Sriramulu, was away in China to purchase raw material. Sriramulu’s father P. Subbarayudu, who lives in Y.V. Street, said he, along with the workers, left the godown at around 11 p.m. on Wednesday after turning the main power switch off. “At around 00.330 a.m., the nearby residents saw flames billowing from the rear of the godown and informed us,” he said. Fire service personnel brought the flames under control at around 9 a.m. on Thursday.
Furniture made from the wood procured from Taiwan and Malaysia were stored in the godown, Mr. Subbarayudu said, adding that the tin roof of the godown was on the verge of caving in owing to the fire. The heat emanating from the fire led to damage of three cars and a van parked in an adjoining shed belonging to former Hindustan Motors distributor C.V. Deva Kumar. Kadapa II Town police registered a case.
