New Delhi: The Sadhnagar market in southwest Delhi’s Palam Village observed a day of mourning on Thursday by keeping the shutters down. Shopkeepers gathered in silence outside the charred remains of Pravesh Moderate Fashion. The narrow lane, usually abuzz with customers, was lined with police barricades. Intermittently, it echoed with the cries of grieving relatives of the Kashyap family, nine of whose members perished in the blaze that gutted their shop and home on Wednesday.The once thriving store stood with a shattered glass facade and broken lights amid a forest of snaking, dark wires. A portion of the adjacent building, too, had got scalded in the blaze. Its outer walls had blackened and a banner had partially torn after being burnt. Shopkeepers stood huddled, consoling Rajender Kashyap, the two-time market association president and patriarch, whose losses were too large to count. The grief was also tinged with the lingering anxiety that a repeat can happen. Most buildings in the market are of mixed usage — residential and commercial — like the ones the Kashyaps built. The shops operate on the lower floor, and the owner’s family lives upstairs. Khushwan Singh Sodhi, who owns a garment shop nearby, pointed out the risks. His shop was stacked with garments, like the store that the Kashyaps ran. The fabrics, some said, had fuelled the fire. “We are now planning to create our own reserve of safety equipment with nets, ropes and ladders, so that we can respond immediately if something like this happens again,” he said.Praveen Batra, a property dealer who has an office in the market, said the traders are considering forming a quick-response team. “We are identifying young people among us who can act swiftly during emergencies. We cannot afford to wait for outside help in such situations,” he said.The screams of the family they once knew, respected and loved as their own will continue to haunt them, some shopkeepers said. Vinod Srivastav, who owns a camera store, said every shopkeeper was now assessing his safety equipment.
