Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, June 18: Houseboat owners today demanded separate fire station and dedicated firefighters in and around Dal Lake, Nigeen and Jhelum river.
While addressing media, President Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association, Abdul Hamid Wangnoo said that in absence of dedicated fire station response to firefighting lacks promptness. “It takes just 15-20 minutes for the fire to turn the houseboat into ashes, so the response has to be immediate,” he said.
”There have been several fire incidents that occurred in Dal Lake, Nigeen Lake and in Jhelum in which many houseboats were gutted, incurring huge losses to the owners,” he said adding that Government does not have a comprehensive policy with regard to the houseboats.
The members of the organization also rued what they called as the insensitivity of the Govt towards the relief and rehabilitation of those whose houseboats gutted in various fire incidents. “Not a single person, whose houseboat was raised to ashes by fire, was given any relief; not a single step was taken towards the rehabilitation of such individuals who had no other source of income,” Wangnoo said.
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