Fire destroys stored L&T power cable near Ramnagar fort, Varanasi
Nov 2026Published 14 Nov 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
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What happened
On a Friday night in November 2026, at about 8 pm, a fire broke out in a stock of electricity cable belonging to L&T, the company named in the source, which had been kept beside the boundary wall of Ramnagar Fort in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Flames were visible from a distance, and nearby residents left their homes. Police and two fire tenders attended, and firefighters needed considerable effort to extinguish the blaze.
The fire destroyed a quantity of cable valued in lakhs of rupees. The Ayodhya feeder from the Ramnagar substation was switched off while the fire burned, and supply was restored after several hours. The source reports that the fort's security officer said CCTV footage showed fireworks falling into rubbish, which then ignited the cable. Local talk, which the source does not confirm, suggested a shopkeeper had set fire to rubbish nearby.
Contributing factors
The source reports that the cable had been kept beside the fort boundary wall, near a rubbish pile, for about six months, and that local residents had asked electricity department officials and the contractor several times to remove it without result. The source attributes the ignition to fireworks falling into rubbish, based on CCTV footage as described by the fort's security officer. A separate account says a shopkeeper set fire to waste. Neither account has been independently confirmed.
Lessons learned
- Store cable and other combustible materials away from waste, open flames and public boundaries, and keep storage areas clear of rubbish.
- Remove or relocate stored materials promptly once the work they were bought for is complete, and record requests from the public so they are acted on.
- Where a fire threatens a substation feeder, plan for a controlled shutdown and rapid restoration, and tell customers what to expect.
More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, emergency response and public communication, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.
Source
Other entries that name Varanasi
Published 2026-11-14. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
