Bandipora: In a bid on life the Tehsildar Bandipora in this North Kashmir district has retrieved all the important revenue records braving the huge fire after the building went up in flames on Saturday evening, damaging it massively.
According to the several officials and witnesses who talked to the media were all praises for the Tehsildar, Mubashir Nazki for showing the courage at a time when no one dared to go near the building.
Pertinently to mention, the Tehsil office which has 7 Kanals of registered land has a CRPF forces camp in its premises, not only that an upper floor of the office building too, wherefrom the fire is first believed to have emerged was being used by the paramilitary forces from many years now. “It was being used as residential-cum- storage space by the forces, the officials said.
This reporter went inside the gutted building and saw several materials ranging from Bedding, Jackboots, Jackets of paramilitary on the top floor completely gutted some of which has made a way through the cardboard ceiling down to the offices’ floor. Moreover, stoves, Kerosene lamps and other material gutted in the fire have been kept in the compound nearby.
The Tehsil office which ran in the ground floor has also been ravaged by the fire incident though partially.
In the office permisis a Government residential quarter is being built which is almost 50 per cent complete while a new office building on the premises too has neared completion and requires minor works.
“The upper floor was caught in huge flames, but we were not being allowed to go near due to safety reasons,” the employees who were still at the office when the fire broke told media persons on Monday.
“Meanwhile, Tehsildar came and ran straight inside the building and removed the lockers which carried important revenue records, seeing all this we couldn’t control ourselves and rushed in despite suffocating smoke while as flames started to engulf the ground floor too, and helped him get the record out from the building,” an employee said.
Nazki was the last person to come out of the building as fire-ravaged, he was forcefully removed from the police and emergency services personal, but he kept insisting on extracting all the records.
Deputy Commissioner Bandipora, Owais Ahmad who visited the spot on Monday also appreciated the bravery of the officer and said that they “were proud of Tehsildar Bandipora and his team who showed enormous courage and ownership which we hardly see anywhere now, and saved all the records which included important revenue records too.”
He said the record is in the safe custody of Tehsildar. “Its been our good luck that 90 per cent of our records are safe and the other record will be reconstructed too”.
Ahmad said that the new complex which is almost complete will be made operational within a few days and revenue officials will function from there.
Ahmad said, “We are also identifying the land for paramilitary personals and other security forces and its been speeded up as the office is of public dealings and when the CRPF has alternative space the functioning here will be improved, moreover if it seems more congested we will be identifying alternate space for hasslefree work of the revenue office.” A four-member inquiry team has been also constituted on Monday to probe the incident by the district administration.
