Mysterious fire guts 26 shops, eight residential structures in Gandoh

Doda/ April,15: At least 26 shops, eight residential structures and several vending huts went up in flames in main market Gandoh in district Doda in a devastating blaze in the wee hours of Saturday. Meanwhile Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has expressed shock and grief over the fire incident
Property worth millions of rupees was reduced to ashes, but there was no report of any serious injuries. Reports said that on the intervening night Friday and Saturday, main market Gandoh, located just 500 metres from the police station, went up in flames.
“The fire, which perhaps started around 1am was noticed by a patrolling team of Police and SSB at 1.45 am, which immediately raised an alarm and informed fire tenders, which reached the spot at 3.30am as nearest fire station is located at Thathri, 45 km from Gandoh. Meanwhile sleuths of Police and SSB along with locals tried to control the flames,” said SDPO Gandoh Sunny Gupta.
“Police has taken the cognizance of fire incident and started investigating, preliminary reports suggest that the  fire started due to the shot circuit,” SDPO said.
Meanwhile District Development Commissioner Bhupinder Kumar Saturday visited   Gandoh Bhalessa where 16 shops and 9 other structures were damaged in fire. DDC along with SSP and other senior officers met the fire victims and assured all the necessary assistance from district administration. He announced relief out of Red Cross funds to all the affected families and directed SDM Gandoh to carry out relief and rehabilitation measures including providing free ration, blankets and others essentials to the fire victi
Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti has expressed grief over the fire incident at Gandoh market in Doda district in which more than 30 residential and commercial establishments were gutted early this morning. The Chief Minister has directed the Doda district administration to extend all possible help to the fire victims by way of temporary shelters and items of daily usage.