Budgam, Oct 1: A massive fire that broke out in the wee hours on Monday, gutted a house of three families and rendered them homeless, besides leaving two persons injured here at Ganaie Mohalla.
According to eye witnesses, the fire broke out in the residential house of three families at around 4: 30 am, and within an hour, flames destroyed property worth lakhs.
“All the household goods including food grains, clothing, furniture, records were destroyed. Everything went up in flames including jewellery,” they said.
Recently, there was a marriage ceremony in the victims’ house and the incident has also left jewellery and other invaluable items in ashes.
Two persons, who suffered burn injuries, were shifted to Budgam district hospital for treatment.
Locals said that the cause of blaze was a short circuit.
The gutted house belonged to Abdul Aziz Ganaie, Abdul Majid Ganaie and Ghulam Mohammad Ganaie. While the houses which were partially damaged, belonged to Abdul Karim Ganaie and other person.
From Imam Bargah Budgam, people were urged through loudspeaker to come out and douse the flames. Similar announcements were also made in Jamia Masjid Ganaie Mohalla. After which hundreds of locals reached the spot.
Meanwhile, residents of Budgam have shown strong resentment against the “sheer negligence” of Fire and Emergency Services department- the station of which lies less than half kilometre away from the spot.
They alleged that it took fire tenders around one hour to cover a distance of few hundred metres. “Had fire tenders reached early, the major loss could have been averted. Even relatives of victim families came from Srinagar but fire tenders of Budgam were nowhere.”
They added that the efforts of locals stopped fire from spreading to adjacent houses. “It was because of locals that nearby houses were saved. Had it been left on fire tenders, several houses would have been gutted.”
A local and senior Journalist Nazir Ganaie said, “After reaching the spot, some three fire tenders couldn’t start the operations as the vehicles ran out of water, fall short of pipes and cited many other issues. Locals had to drive vehicles as the driver on duty had left the station to dogs.”
When contacted AD Fire and Emergency Services Budgam Rajkumar Raina said, “We rushed four fire tenders to the spot immediately.”
He added that the source of water was far away, then he also called fire tenders from Chadoora, Rawalpora and Rangreth.
Pertinently, demanding relief for the victim families, locals said that government should come forward and provide immediate help to the families.
DDC Budgam visits fire incident victims
BUDGAM, OCTOBER 01: Deputy Commissioner Budgam Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar today visited GanieMohallah of Budgam Town, where a three-story private building was gutted in fire incident last night.
During her visit, the DDC assured affected families that all efforts will be made by the administration to redress their pain and loss on humanitarian grounds. She issued on spot directions to provide blankets, utensils and other emergency requirements to the affected families till a permanent process of relief and rehabilitation is initiated. She also directed Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department to provide 50 kgs of ration free of cost to the sufferers with immediate effect.
DDC Budgam visits fire incident victims
