Excelsior Correspondent
GANDERBAL, Aug 4: The GOC 15 Chinar Corps, Lt. General Subrata Saha today visited the Sainik School here after its hostel was gutted in a massive fire last night and announced immediate relief for the affected students.
In a massive fire on Sunday, the hostel of students at Sainik School, Manasbal in Central Kashmir was completely gutted. The school management informed that the incident occurred when students were having dinner.
The GOC, while expressing sympathy with the school management and students, said he was saddened by the incident. “Yesterday when I saw it on television, I felt very sad,” he told students.
The GOC, on the occasion, announced immediate relief on ‘humanitarian grounds’. “In a bid to provide you with immediate relief, we will provide 12 tents for 60 affected students, 60 sleeping bags, mattresses, bed sheets, pillows, pillow and pillow covers,” he said. “Besides,” he said, “we are giving Rs 2000 to each student so that you could buy uniform, towels etc. We are giving it to principal and would request him to buy these things.”
Meanwhile, the school’s Principal Sheikh Gayas-ud-Din said that the students had joined the school yesterday after Eid holidays and at around 8:15 when students were having dinner some smoke was seen coming out of the hostel building and in no time huge flames of fire appeared.
He said, though school staff tried to douse the fire but they failed to do so. Soon after the fire tenders were called.
He said that the books, clothes of about 60 students suffer damage. “The cause of fire is yet to be known and we have asked for the investigation into the incident,” he added.
Besides senior Army officials, the Additional Superintendent of Police Ganderbal, Paramveer Singh, was accompanying the GOC.
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