Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Anantnag, Oct 14: District Development Council (DDC) Member Verinag, Peer Shahbaz on Thursday had to face a tough time when a group of people forced him to leave Halsidar area without expressing grief to the family whose residential house gutted in a fire incident.
In a video clip, which has emerged on social media sites, a group of people can be seen attempting to attack a DDC Member and then a few among them taking him away from the spot.
According to reports, this evening, fire erupted in a residential house at Halsidar Village of Verinag. In the fire incident, a residential house belonging to Gull Mohammad Thoker s/o Abdul Ahad Thoker suffered damages, they said.
Locals told Early Times they informed the Fire and Emergency Services Department the moment the fire erupted. “We tried to reach out to the concerned department but they didn’t reach on time,” they alleged.
The fire fighting vehicle had to travel over 20 kilometers to reach the spot, they said, adding they have been demanding a Fire Station in the area since a decade but the authorities never heard of them.
“We don’t have a Fire Station in Verinag Tehsil. We have been demanding the same for a decade but sadly our politicians’ are only focusing on NAREGRA works,” they added. Residents said that they successfully managed to douse the flames much before the fire fighting vehicle arrived at the spot. “The Fire fighting vehicle took almost 45 minutes to reach the spot,” they added.
District Development Council (DDC) Member Verinag, Peer Shahbaz who during his election campaign had promised a fire station in the area told Early Times that the villagers were deliberately provoked against him.
“I was in Dooru when my workers informed me about the fire incident at Halsidar Verinag. I immediately took a Fire emergency vehicle and reached the spot. Since the distance between Dooru Fire Station and Halisdar is around 20 to 25 kilometers so it took around 45 minutes,” he said.
Shahbaz claimed that villagers were deliberately provoked against him by misinforming that he had stopped the Fire and Emergency vehicle somewhere between Verinag and Halsidar. |
