21 shops, residental house gutted in Kupwara blaze

Srinagar : At least 21 shops and a residential house were gutted in a massive fire incident that broke out in the wee hours of Thursday at the bus stand in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
An official said that the fire that broke out in the wee hours left an old structure damaged. The official said that the structure belonged to Haji Abdul Gani Dar.
The official further said that the F&ES reached the spot immediately after receiving information in this regard.
An employee of F&ES part of the operation said that they immediately swung into action and rescued a family, adding that no injury or loss of life was reported in the incident.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Kupwara, Ayushi Sudan also visited the shopkeepers whose shops were gutted in the fire incident at General Bus Stand Kupwara. She was accompanied by Tehsildar Kupwara and other concerned officers.
Talking to reporters on the spot, she said that the administration sympathizes with the victims but it is important to ascertain the cause of the fire.
She said that after the report, they will be compensated adequately, adding that there is a need to conduct a Fire Safety Audit of all shop establishments in the Kupwara town to minimize the risk of such incidents in the future.
She also appealed to the people to take proper care of their surroundings to avoid such unfortunate incidents, mainly during the winter season.
Further, an official said that the administration has announced RS 5,000 each to shopkeepers out of the Red Cross and Rs 10,000 to residential house owner out of the Red Cross