Locals Aghast, Urge Establishment of Fire Service Station
Raja Bilal
Budgam, Aug 18: A single storey residential house was completely gutted in a massive fire erupting on Wednesday evening in a village in Khag tehsil of central-Kashmir’s Budgam district.
Reports reaching Kashmir Glory said that the house belonging to one Ghulam Mohammad Khokar son of Ambir Khokar in Lohrin Khag caught fire and was reduced to ashes after locals failed to contain the raging flames. Many of the valuables of the house owner also were destroyed either completely or partially.
The locals on the occasion however expressed anguish over non-existence of any fire and emergency unit in Khag tehsil. They said that the Khag area spanning over fifty-two villages was given the status of Tehsil in 2003, however even after all these years, not a single fire and emergency unit was set up in the tehsil.
The official apathy has left us in a state of lurch, they said.
While referring to the particular incident, consuming the residential house, they said “Had there been any fire service unit in vicinity, this much damage could have been averted, saying further they had to call the department at Beerwah, which according to them is some 17 kilometres away from the incident spot. While the vehicle reached, the house was already in ashes, with no water source available amid the prevailing sultry weather conditions, they said.
We make a fervent appeal to the authorities to set up a fire and emergency services unit in the tehsil to avert any exigency that may take place here, they added. – Kashmir Glory News
