As much as 37 crore worth of properties has been damaged in the major fire that broke out recently at the Super Saravana Stores on Melur Main Road in Madurai city, police said.

On March 1, a fire broke out on the 9th floor of the building, which houses the food court. Later, the fire and smoke spread to at least a couple of other neighbouring floors in the 10-storey high building. Three employees had suffered suffocation due to smoke inhalation and had to be briefly hospitalised for treatment at a nearby private hospital. After hours, the fire and rescue services department personnel had brought the fire under control. Since then, various officials, including the Madurai district collector Dr S Aneesh Sekhar, Madurai corporation commissioner Simranjeet Singh Kahlon, as well as senior officials from the fire and rescue services department and police had inspected the building. Based on the complaint filed by the manager of the stores, the Mattuthavani police registered an FIR on Saturday night, treating the incident as a case of accidental fire that broke out on the 9th floor of the shopping mall building.

Police said that 37 crore worth garments, plastics and other properties were damaged in the fire. It may be recalled that a case is pending in the Madras high court wherein advocate Henri Tiphagne sought for a direction to constitute an expert committee including a professor from IIT to inspect and submit a report regarding the violations in the building.