6 houses, 3 shops gutted in Nowhatta blaze

Srinagar, Jan 7: At least six houses and three shops were gutted in a fire incident at Nowhatta locality in Downtown.

Officials said the incident occurred in the early morning hours at the Bahauddin Sahib area of the locality. The Fire and Emergency department pressed multiple fire tenders to douse off the flames in the congested locality.

“At least six residential structures and two shops were gutted in the incident. These include 5 triple-story structures and 1 double-story structure that also houses three shops. These shops included a meat shop, and a local baker shop, and a Pashmina shop,” said the official.

The devastating incident has left six families shelterless amid winters. The fire victims said that they were left with nothing and appealed to authorities for all possible help.

Fayaz Ahmad Khan, one of the victims said that they are from economically weak families and are left with nothing but clothes that they are wearing. He said that he had an accident recently and was recovering from it when the fire tragedy hit them.

“I am yet to recover and this incident has inflicted losses on us. We are doing meagre jobs to make ends meet and now we are left with nothing. I had borrowed money for my treatment and to meet other expenses which were also gutted in the incident,” Fayaz Ahmad said.

Fayaz Ahmad said that another victim namely Majid Khan, lost his father to COVID a few years back and the young boy is the sole breadwinner of this family. “He has to feed his mother and young sister and the boy is working in fruit Mandi to make the ends meet. All of the victims are not financially sound and this tragedy has left us devastated,” Khan said,

The victims said that neighbours have offered to shelter them temporarily. They said that amid cold, the fire victims including youngsters and the elderly have to survive without shelter and other belongings.

The locals also appealed to the people to come forward for help. They urged the government to ensure that these families are properly rehabilitated.

Meanwhile, on the directions of Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Dr Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat, a team of District Administration, Srinagar today visited Bahauddin Sahib Nowhatta to provide immediate assistance to the fire-affected families.

An official statement said the immediate relief was sanctioned by Deputy Commissioner Srinagar and was provided to the affected families through the team of District Administration in the form of blankets, besides Rs.10,000 to each affected families as an interim relief out of the District Red Cross Fund.

The team of District Administration Srinagar also expressed sympathy with the affected families on loss of property.

Further, the Deputy Commissioner has also directed the concerned authorities to assess the losses and make a comprehensive report for providing structure-wise financial assistance under SDRF to the fire-affected families separately.