Fire breaks out at renovated cinema hall in Sholinghur near Ranipet
The Hindu
Short-circuit might have caused the the accident, say police
A fire broke out at the mini cinema complex of Sumathi theatre at Sholinghur in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police said that no casualties had been reported. The firefighters battled for two hours to put out the blaze. The entire mini-theatre was gutted. “As most of the lights were on, power short circuit might have caused the accident. Further investigation is on,” said R. Lakshmanan, Station Fire Officer, Sholinghur.
At 4.40 a.m. on Tuesday, a few staff at the theatre saw smoke emanating from the cinema hall and alerted the local police and the fire office, which rushed fire tenders to the spot.
As the fire spread to other parts of the theatre, additional fire tenders from Arakkonam town were pressed into service with a 12-member team led by S. Lakshmi Narayanan, District Fire Officer, Ranipet. They put off the fire after a long struggle. But by then, the entire theatre was gutted. At the time of the accident, two staff were guarding the place and were safely rescued.
Officials said the theatre complex, built in 1944, is the only such facility available for cinema goers in Sholinghur town. Recently, it was refurbished with modern facilities. The main theatre with a seating capacity of 400 persons is located at the entrance whereas the gutted mini-hall is at the rear end. Firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the main theatre hall. The police said the building developed slight cracks. Residents of the area complained of breathlessness because of the thick smoke that came from the building. A case has been registered by the Sholinghur police.
Following multiple complaints regarding vehicle dealers not handing over registration certificates (RCs) to registered owners at the time of delivery, the Delhi Transport Department has directed all its district offices to seek reports on the issuance of RCs from vehicle dealers under their jurisdiction on a fortnightly basis. The order was issued on Thursday by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot.
According to sources in the Southern Railway, Aishwarya Menon of Chennai Division was among the invitees. Other loco pilots and assistant loco pilots were nominated from West Central Railway, North Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway, South Central Railway, South Western Railway, Northern Railway and North Frontier Railway.
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi founder and Chidambaram M.P., Thol. Thirumavalavan, on Friday recalled the arduous journey of steering the party through the transition from being a radical organisation whose slogan was ‘Adanga Maru, Aththu Meeru, Thimiri Ezhu, Thiruppi Adi’ (Don’t bow down, disobey, rise up and hit back) to become an important cog in the wheel of electoral politics in Tamil Nadu today as VCK, with four MLAs and two MPs, is set to be recognised by the Election Commission of India as a ‘state party’.