Kolkata: Scores of shops, mostly temporary eateries along the line of footpath, were gutted in a major fire early on Thursday, police and fire brigade sources said.
A shopkeeper received burn wounds following the bursting of a cooking gas cylinder in one of the destroyed shops and he was taken to the Bidhannagar hospital in the locality.
However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, the rescue officials said.
More than half-a-dozen firefighting vehicles have rushed to the scene of fire, FD Block at the Salt Lake, to combat the flames as most of the shops were covered with tarpaulin sheets.
State fire minister Sujit Bose and many senior officials have gone to ascertain the details of the fire and overseeing the rescue work.
An eyewitness said the fire was first noticed around 5 am.
