3 houses, 2 cowsheds gutted in overnight Handwara blaze

Srinagar, Mar 17: Three residential houses besides two cowsheds were gutted in a massive blaze which broke out on intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday in Behnipora village of Rajwar Handwara in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
Reports said that a fire broke out from a residential house at around 4 AM and soon after spread to various other structures in vicinity. Despite efforts by the locals to contain the fire, three residential houses and two cow sheds were completely gutted in the incident.
The residential houses are said to have been belonging to Mohammad Sonaullah Sheikh, Ghulam Hassan Sheikh and Abdul Aziz Sheikh. Belongings including clothes and food grains worth lakhs were destroyed in the incident.
The locals have alleged the Fire and Emergency Department of reaching late to the site, which according to them led to colossal damage to the residential property. “Had the locals, especially the youth not doused the fire, there could have been more damage”, a local said.
Meanwhile the locals have urged district administration to assess the loss and compensate the affected families on a priority basis. (GNS)