A popular sweet shop at Bhangagarh was destroyed in a fire on Thursday afternoon after cooking cylinder reportedly burst.

Gunjan Sweets is located right next to Nemcare Hospital.

As fire tenders reached the spot on time, the fire was brought under control and did not spread to any other building.

However, it triggered panic among people and disrupted traffic on the busy GS Road for over an hour.

Manoranjan Das, a street vendor, who was on the spot, said: “It was around 3.30pm. I had some customers as usual. In between I went to fetch water from a nearby tap. Suddenly I heard a loud burst. I saw flames; smoke was billowing out of the shop.”

Rakesh, another vendor on the same street, said: “The shop needed major repair. It was almost dilapidated. An accident was obvious sooner or later.”

A police officer said according to primary assessment, it was suspected that the fire broke out because of a gas cylinder leak. However, no one was injured but property was badly damaged.

“The only thing remaining is the gutted building,” the police officer said.