Several residential houses, a masjid, and shopping complexes were gutted in a fire incident at Bohri Kadal in Srinagar. Reports said property worth crores of rupees was damaged and a number of families were rendered homeless. The affected people said they could not save their belongings as the fire spread very fast in the congested area.
The concerned authorities must immediately provide relief to the affected people. Efforts must be made for their early rehabilitation as well. Help must be extended to them in this direction. They should not suffer in the scorching heat.
The officials of Fire and Emergency Services Department said that several fire tenders were pressed into service to bring the fire under control. Some fire fighters were injured while extinguishing the fire. Reports of fire incidents were received from some other places in Kashmir during last several weeks. The affected people there too need to be provided the relief.
The people must take all precautions to prevent occurance of fire mishaps. Any callousness proves costly. The Department of Fire and Emergency Services too must be fully equipped to deal with fire incidents. It should be strengthened through manpower, wherever needed. People at a number of places have been demanding fire tender stations.
According to them non-availability of fire stations creates problems for them during the fire incidents and the loss is massive. They say the fire tenders from other places take more time to reach the affected areas leading to more damage.
The department must look into their problem and establish more fire tender stations, wherever needed. Sometimes the personnel of the department are not able to control the fire immediately at places, where there is shortage of water. For that the water must be stored in advance in the water tanks of the fire tenders.