Kashmir leaders call for relief to Kishtwar blaze-hit families

Kashmir leaders including Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday urged the administration to ensure immediate relief to the families affected in a devastating blaze in remote village of Kishtwar in which dozens of residential houses were reduced to ashes.
Mufti, while commenting on X, said the families need assistance as winter is around the corner. “Seventy residential houses have been gutted by a fire that raged through the village of Marwah Wardwan in Kishtwar. Hope that the government immediately extends support & assistance to these families especially because winter is just around the corner,” she said.
A fire broke out in the Marwah village in Wadwan Kishtwar on Monday and engulfed at-least 45 houses, many of which were wooden, and a mosque within a short span of time. The fire services could not reach the remote village on time. There was no loss of life in the incident, officials have said.
CPI(M) leader and MLA-elect Kulgam, Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami, meanwhile, expressed grief and sorrow over the mishap. He urged the administration to depute revenue teams to assess the losses incurred by the victims, so that the value of compensation is fixed and distributed among them immediately. He also demanded a Fire Service Station adjacent to the area.
Chief cleric of Srinagar Jamia Masjid and Hurriyat leader, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, also expressed deep concern over two incidents of fire in the areas of Malwar, Warwan in Kishtwar district of Jammu, and Tulail in Kashmir’s Gurez . In Gurez, a vibrant market and two residential homes in Tulail were devastated in a blaze on Sunday night.
Mirwaiz expressed solidarity with the victims and lamented the financial losses worth millions of rupees caused by these fires. “The rapid loss of homes for a large financially weak population is distressing and soul-crushing,” he said and expressed empathy with their struggles and hardships.