According to the latest findings, the fire was brought under control on Friday morning. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. and a fire department was called. When the fire brigade arrived, three to four shops had already been destroyed. By 1am, the entire market was on fire, a local said.
This market in Jorhat has a glorious history. During the Ahom rule, this market originated in Jorhat. The flames from the blaze destroyed the historic Chowk Bazaar in Jorhat Town in just two and a half hours. Chowk Market was established in the 1880s. The Chowk Bazaar was built near Raj Kareng after Purnananda Borgohain moved the capital of the Ahom from Rangpur to Jorhat. The market started building houses all around on 4 bighas of land. On the other hand, many people say that this market was set up in the days of Captain Newville, a British officer from Ujjain. In 1898 Rai Bahadur Krishna Kumar Baruah was elected the first mayor of Jorhat Municipality and in his time the construction of the Chowk Bazaar began. Later, in 1909, according to Col. A. Playfair, then Deputy Commissioner of the Sivasagar District, assumed the office of Mayor and built the Tin Iron Houses in the Chowk Bazaar. At that time a group of Hindu Bengalis and Muslims from Dhaka started their business here.
