Boniyar residents suffer in absence of fire and emergency services station

Baramulla, July 24: Days after ten shops were gutted in a devastating fire incident in Boniyar area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, the locals here have slammed the authorities for depriving the vast area  and its adjoining villages from fire and emergency services stations.

In a similar incident, 11 shops were gutted in December 2023 in a market in the same area of Boniyar and local residents  that time too registered their protest against the non availability of the fire tenders in the area. However, despite persistent demand for several years for a fire and emergency station, there has been no end to their woes.

Lashing at the authorities, the aggrieved residents said that despite repeated requests to the authorities for setting up a Fire and Emergency station here the authorities are showing cold response to their legitimate demand.

Muhammad Ashiq Mir former BDC member Boniyar said that the fresh incident of fire is not new in the Boniyar market. He said earlier too several such incidents of blaze occurred in the area but due to the non availability of a fire and emergency station, the losses were immense which could have been avoided had there been fire tenders  locally available.

“The delay in the arrival of the fire tenders during a blaze incident always proves devastating for the locals here. As fire tenders had to arrive either from Baramulla or Uri which took more than fourty minutes and till then structures were reduced to ashes,” said former BDC member.

Another local resident, Parvaiz Ahmad, said that the Boniyar tehsil comprises over a dozen villages and most of these villages are located on hilly areas. He said the incidents of fire do occur frequently in the main market of the Boniyar tehsil.

However, if such an incident occurs in the hilly area then chances of massive devastation in that village remains high as it will take hours for fire tenders from Baramulla or Uri to reach at the spot.

“We have moved from one department to another for the redressal of a long pending issue of setting up of a fire and emergency department, however, till date authorities have been watching mutely over the issue with the result people of this remote area suffer silently,” said Parvaiz.

Parvaiz added that although authorities earlier claimed that a fire and emergency service station will be set up at the Boniyar area, however, years have passed there seems no forward movement on the issue.