DELHI police suspect negligence in an electrical fire that destroyed 24 warehouses and 90 per cent of the container contents at south Asia's largest inland container deport.

The Delhi Exporters Association said damages amount to INR10 billion (US$226 million) and association president SP Aggarwal demanded adequate compensation, saying it should come as immediate zero-interest loans to revive businesses, reported the Press Trust of India.

The blaze started at 5am, but the Delhi Fire Service said it was not alerted until 45 minutes later by which time the fire had engulfed the sprawling container depot, destroying 24 of the 25 warehouses.

Some 30 fire appliances battled the leaping flames for more than five hours near the Tughlaqabad railway station in south Delhi. "The fire spread rapidly. By the time we reached, a portion of the roof had collapsed," said fire chief RC Sharma.

The fire caused a huge traffic jam on the usually busy road linking Mehrauli and Badarpur.

The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) also bemoaned its losses, which it reckoned at INR6 billion. "Handicrafts products worth over INR60 crore were gutted in the fire," said EPCH chairman Raj Kumar Malhotra.

The ICD is always congested, said Mr Malhotra, and more containers are stored there than can be comfortably accommodated. He also alleged that there were "no proper precautionary fire-fighting measures at the ICD".

The EPCH also demanded that the Container Corporation of India (CCI) pay for the losses incurred by exporters without any delay on the basis of the shipping bills.

Source: shipping online