Hyderabad: A dozen automobile repair workshops were gutted in a major fire at Mallepally ITI Guild in Vijayanagar Colony here on Sunday evening. Though no casualties were reported, the flames raged for over more than four hours. Thick smoke billowed out in the sky. The fire panicked local people and workers of the surrounding shops.

Combustible materials such as paint barrels, plastic items and rexin sheets were reduced to ashes. Chemicals stored in the vicinity also caught fire as the shops were engulfed in flames in no time. Local people who noticed the fire alerted the fire personnel.

About 15 fire tenders and 10 tankers were rushed to the spot from different fire stations to bring the fire under control. Short-circuit is stated to be the possible reason for the fire. It was a tough battle for the fire personnel who struggled till 9 pm and in the process many gas cylinders exploded.

The guild housed 100 small workshops. “Since most of the shops here share walls and roof, the fire soon spread to nearby shops. Municipal water tankers were also pressed into service,” fire officials said adding that since much of the fire blazed inside the narrow lanes, the full strength of the water hoses could not be utilised. The power supply to the entire area was stopped following the incident. All the roads leading towards the guild were also closed for general traffic.

The fire accident led to heavy traffic jam on major roads like Bazar Ghat, Masab Tank, Mallepally and Vijayanagar Colony. Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy who visited the spot said the outbreak of the fire caused huge damage to the 10-odd shops and the exact cause of the fire was being investigated. Nampally MLA Jaffer Hussain Meraj also visited the spot.

Senior police officials including Hyderabad Police Commissioner M Mahender Reddy, Additional CP (Law & Order) Anjani Kumar, DCP (W) A Venkateshwar Rao and ACP (Asifnagar) Ghouse Moinuddin were among the officials who supervised the fire-fighting. Three cases of chain snatching in city Gold chains were snatched from three women in three separate incidents in Asifnagar and Market police station limits on Sunday. The third incident took place in Secunderabad.

In Gudimalkapur area, gold chain weighing 11 tolas was snatched from Anita, 45, when she was returning from the market. Two motorcycle-borne culprits snatched the gold chain from her near Gudimalkapur vegetable market and fled from the spot.In another incident, a person on a motorcycle snatched a gold chain weighing five tolas from a woman in Mehdipatnam area near Pillar No 28, Motorcycle-borne snatchers accused intercepted a woman in Secunderabad area under Market police station and robbed her of her three-sovereign gold chain in a third incident of the day.

Responding to the three incidents, a senior police officer of the West Zone said that they were strengthening the patrolling during the day. Labourer falls to death A labourer died after he fell  while doing his job from the sixth floor of an under-construction building in Golconda Police Station limits on Saturday evening. According to police, Hari Shankar, 20, a resident of Alkapur, had a fatal fall from the sixth floor while executing some work at the building in Golconda area.

He was rushed to a private hospital and was bleeding profusely. He later succumbed to his injuries. A case under IPC Section 304 A (accidental death caused due to negligence) was registered at the Golconda police station. Safety norms were not followed and basic precautionary measures were not taken at the site, sub-inspector V Sundaraiah said.