Revisit the mechanism

At least dozens of shops and residential houses were damaged in the fire incidents at separate places across Srinagar and other places of the Valley in the month of March. The incidents are on rise in the past some weeks, causing huge losses to the properties of the people here. On Tuesday night at least nine shops and a residential house were damaged in twin fire incidents at Gadyar area of Zaina Kadal and Rajouri Kadal areas of Srinagar’s old city while on Wednesday night 25 structures including 10 single-storey, nine double –storey and one three-story houses were damaged in the blaze at Gata Colony in Noorbagh area of Srinagar city. It seems that the equipment available with the fire fighters are not helping them to prevent the losses as there are people who believe that their equipment are outdated. In the congested areas of Srinagar, the Fire and Emergency Services department needs to revisit its measures to tackle the situation in an eased manner. Moreover, awareness must be created among the masses and necessary precautions must be taken to put an end to the frequent incidents of fire. Besides, the Disaster Management Department has to lead from the front as such incidents render families homeless and devastated. The department should put proper mechanisms in place to rehabilitate the fire victims and provide them with all the basic necessities when they are in distress.