Several houses razed to ground in midnight blaze at Batamaloo

Srinagar: At least seven residential houses were gutted in a massive blaze that broke out at Hamza Colony Batamaloo area of Srinagar on late Sunday evening while three firemen were also injured while they were dousing the flames.
Reports said that the fire broke out at Sheikh Hamza Colony Dandar Kha area of Batamaloo from a residential house belonging to Shabir Ahmad Sheikh and engulfed other structures.
The incident left seven residential houses damaged.
Meanwhile, an official said that “fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames,” adding that seven residential houses got damaged till the fire was brought under control.
He said that the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
Police have registered a case in this regard and started investigations.
Also, three officials from fire and Emergency Services (F&ES) were injured when they were dousing the flames in the area.
The injured have been identified as Muhammad Ahsan, son of Abdul Gani Malla of Kulgam (right hand injury 12 stitches), Akshay Seghal, son of Rajesh Kumar Seghal of Jammu (right hand injury) and Showkat Ahmad Malik, son of Manzoor Ahmad Malik of Anantnag (Left rib injury).
Meanwhile, on the directions of Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad, the officers of District Administration, visited Hamza Colony in Batmaloo area of the District to provide immediate ex-gratia relief/assistance to fire victims whose residential houses were damaged in a massive fire incident.
The officers team expressed sympathy with the affected families on loss of property and provided an immediate ex-gratia relief/assistance in the form of 105 blankets, 63 mattresses, 63 bed sheets and 21 kitchen sets, in addition Rs 105000 were also provided to all 21 affected families each Rs 5000 out of Red Cross as an interim relief.
Similarly, fire also broke out at Abi Nowpora area of the District on Monday in which one house comprising three families also got gutted. The team of District Administration also visited the spot and provided an ex-gratia relief/assistance in the form of 15 blankets, 09 mattresses, 09 bed sheets and 03 kitchen sets, besides Rs 15000 were also provided to all 3 affected families each Rs 5000 out of Red Cross.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Commissioner has also sanctioned Rs 7.26 lakh in favour of the affected fire victims whose houses were damaged in separate fire incidents at Hamza Colony Batmaloo and Abi Nowpora in the District.