Examiner Bureau | Jammu:
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday visited the fire-ravaged Nehra Market near Bikram Chowk in Jammu and called for adequate financial assistance to traders who suffered massive losses in the blaze.
Several shops and godowns were gutted in the major fire that broke out late Sunday night at the historic market, one of Jammu’s oldest commercial hubs, known for its wholesale trade in foodgrains, edible oil, essential commodities and other daily-use items.
Expressing solidarity with the affected traders, Mufti said they would be unable to recover from the losses and restart their businesses without financial support from the government.
“Our goods and everything else have been damaged. Unless we receive financial assistance, we will not be able to recover from these losses. We need financial support to restart our businesses, as the losses are enormous,” she said.
Describing the incident as a horrifying experience, Mufti said Diwali had turned into a dark and terrifying night for the traders.
She said adequate safety arrangements should have been in place in markets during the festive season, keeping in view the possibility of fire incidents. She also questioned the firefighting response, claiming that the fire tenders initially deployed were too small to tackle a blaze of such magnitude. She said larger vehicles should have been pressed into service at the outset to prevent the fire from spreading.
“These are ordinary people, not big businessmen. Most of them have taken loans, incurred debts and even sold family jewellery to set up their businesses. They earn during the day and use that income to feed their families at night,” Mufti said.
Appealing to the government to extend adequate financial assistance, she said the affected traders needed immediate support to overcome their losses and restore their livelihoods.
Meanwhile, traders said the market dealt in a wide range of food and grocery items, including edible oil, pulses, flour, rice, ghee, dry fruits and other household goods. They estimated the losses to run into crores of rupees, saying the fire spread rapidly and became difficult to control.
On insurance coverage, some traders said they might have been insured, while others had no coverage, as nobody had anticipated losses on such a massive scale.
The shopkeepers also alleged that the initial firefighting response was inadequate. One trader claimed that a small fire service vehicle reached the spot around five minutes after the blaze broke out, while larger fire tenders arrived only after the situation had escalated.
“This is such a large foodgrain market. Sending a small vehicle to tackle a fire of this magnitude was not sufficient. The administration should have been better prepared,” a shopkeeper said.
He further alleged that water pressure was initially inadequate and called for better emergency preparedness, particularly during festivals such as Diwali when the risk of fire incidents is heightened.
The Nehra Market blaze is the second major fire incident in Jammu in a little over a fortnight, following the destruction of a substantial number of shops at Shiv Market.
The fire at Shiv Market broke out on the night of October 25 and continued until the morning of October 26, engulfing at least 40 shops and destroying property worth crores of rupees.
