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Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 26: Three persons of a family were charred to death and three others sustained serious burn injuries in a major fire that broke out at about 12.30 am in a slum area of Narwal in the outskirts of this winter capital of the State today. Around 80 hutments also gutted in the blaze.
According to the reports, a mysterious fire today broke out around 12.30 am at a ‘Basti’ of Burmese refugees who were living in hutments made of wood and plastic sheets in an open private plot at Kiryani Talab area of Narwal.
Noticing flames, the local residing near the ‘basti’ informed the police and fire services. Within the 10-15 minutes the police as well as fire tenders reached the spot. The fire fighters controlled the fire within 30 minutes but it took them about 2-3 hours to completely douse the flames. However, by that time, about 60 hutments got completely perished in the fire. Three persons of a family including a woman and her two minor daughters were killed in the fire while three others including a 17 year-old girl, a five-year-old boy and a 12 year-old boy received critical burn injuries.
“It was a major fire and nearly 80 hutments (jhuggis) turned into ashes,” SP City South, Shahzad Salaria said. The three people who died were refugees of Burma. Those got injured have been hospitalized.
“The reason behind the fire was not yet known but we are investigating the matter,” the officer said, adding, in this connection a case under 174 CrPC has been registered and inquest proceedings initiated.
He said those killed in the mishap are Nonaar Begum (30) wife of Saleem and her daughters, Rozina Akther (7) and Bibi Akther (2) while the injured have been identified as Tasmina (17) daughter of Adaspur, Raheem (5) son of Saleem and Usmaan (12) son of Noor Mohammad, all residents of Burma and presently residing at Kiryani Talab.
Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Simrandeep Singh told Excelsior that as per the direction of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, they are trying to provide all types of assistance to the affected families. He said as immediate relief, today blankets, tents, utensils and 5 kg ration including rice, atta and some pulses were given to the affected families by Red Cross Society while they are contemplating over the issue of financial assistance to the kin of those killed and injured in the mishap, as it was not a natural disaster. “A medical camp was also organized for providing free medical aid to the residents of the area”, he added.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has expressed grief over the incident and directed the divisional administration to extend all humanitarian assistance to the affected families. She has also expressed heartfelt sympathies with the families of three persons who were charred to death in the tragic incident.
Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Kavinder Gupta, National Conference president, Dr Farooq Abdullah, working president, Omar Abdullah and former Minister, Raman Bhalla have also expressed their heartfelt sympathies with the family of the persons, who lost their lives in the fire.
Meanwhile, Speaker, J&K Legislative Assembly, Kavinder Gupta today visited Narwal where precious lives were lost and scores of others were injured, in a tragic fire incident today. The Speaker was accompanied by the Additional Deputy Commissioner Jammu, Arun Kumar Manhas, SDM Jammu South, Sonu Pargal, SDPO East, Chandan Kohli, CMO, Jammu, Robinder Khajuria, officers of the Fire Services, Forensic Science Laboratory, Red Cross and people from the civil society.
The Speaker expressed grief over the loss of precious human lives in the devastating blaze. The Speaker was informed that officers of the Forensic Science Laboratory were called in to ascertain the real cause of fire. ADC further informed the Speaker that majority section of the migrant population living in the State is residing in hutments made with materials prone to fire.
Underlining the need to adopt effective measures for their safety, the Speaker said that directions have already been passed to the Jammu Municipal Corporation, PDD, PHE and other departments for issuing notices to the owners of vacant plots who rent out their lands to migrant population for providing basic facilities such as toilets, electricity and water connection to them in a legalized way.
He directed the administration to conduct an impartial and transparent enquiry in this matter and set an example by booking the guilty, if any, under relevant laws in order to prevent such incidents in future.
Former Minister and senior Congress leader, Raman Bhalla also visited the spot. He expressed shock and grief over the tragic incident and assured to provide all possible assistance to the aggrieved families.
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