Two houseboats, residential hut gutted in blaze at Dal Lake

Affected families must be provided with immediate ex-gratia: Gen Sec HBOA, says loss figure more than Rs 1 Crore

5 Dariya News

Srinagar 17-Feb-2020

At least two houseboats and a residential hutment were gutted in the world famous Dal Lake on Monday in a deadly blaze leaving more than three families homeless. The tentative loss figure figured out by the House Boat Owners Association (HBOA) is more than rupees one crore.According to wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), fire broke out at Konakhan area of famous Dal Lake, in the afternoon when the families living in a hutment, and two houseboats had gone out for some work.“Within no time, two houseboats and a residential hutment was razed to ground due to deadly fire,” General Secretary House Boat Owners Association (HBOA), Abdur Rashid Kaloo told KNO.He said that fire tenders reached the spot very late as a result fire damaged two houseboats and a residential hut. The damaged property belonged to Bashir Ahmed Gosani son of Muhammad Rajab Gosani and Mehrajudin Karnai son of Ghulam Rasool Karnai. “The tentative loss figure is more than Rs one crore. Even though police and a local patwari visited the spot and an FIR was lodged, we urge the government and the local administration Srinagar to provide an exgratia relief to the affected families,” Kaloo said. (KNO)