Srinagar, June 26: At a time when Kashmir is mourning the loss of its revered cultural and religious symbol—Dastageer Sahab (RA) shrine—the Fire and Emergency department has come under severe criticism for poor preparedness and showing laxity in dousing the fire.
 While officials said the public interference resulted in the delay, the shrine heir, Sajada Nasheen, Syed Sajad Geelani blamed the ‘lazy firefighting’ operation for it. “Amid chaos and confusion, the operation by the firefighters was pathetic as they came without preparation,” he told Greater Kashmir.
 “We informed them immediately after we saw smoke emanating from the dome shrine at 6:15am. But they reached the spot twenty minutes late that too with empty fire tenders,” Geelani said.
 According to Deputy Director, Fire and Emergency Services in Srinagar, Khursheed Ahmad Bazaz, two tenders were rushed to the spot within no time. “On receiving the call from a local, two fire tenders each filled with 7000 liters of waters were send from the nearby Rainawari and Babademb stations,” he said.
 Bazaz said that both the fire tender had a propelling speed of around 1800 liters per minutes. “There is no question tenders being empty, but yes water exhausted within five minutes in both of them,” he said.
 However, six fire tenders sent from the headquarters were already on job, Bazaz said. He said around 32 fire tenders and 22 portable fire pumps were on job with some called from Awantipora, Budgam, Chadoora and Ganderbal Stations.
 With the department boasting its measures employed for the fire-fighting operation at the shrine, it faced a ‘serious criticism’ for failing to cope up with the situation.  
 Despite being aware about the sanctity of this building, the Shrine heir said the people took command of the operation in their hands after watching the firemen dousing the flames helplessly. “It is due to tireless efforts by public that some part of shrine is saved,” Geelani said.
 Abdul Latief, an eyewitness said the firemen could not locate the water source in an around the area quickly. “Some of the fire ponds constructed in the area were buried under the road widening project but fire department did not bother to save them or replace them. They could just search for the polluted and contaminated water of the nearby canal for dousing flame of the sacred place,” he said. 
 Latief said the timely preparedness would have saved the shrine from gutting.
 The fire tenders came under heavy stone pelting when they went to refill their tanks from the nearby Brarinambal water body. The people were aghast as to how could the fire tenders use the polluted waters of the water body to douse the flames at the shrine.
 As per locals the large green minaret atop the older part of the shrine engulfed the fire initially and it immediately spread. “On seeing the leaping flames, we raised the alarm and started the fire fighting operation on their own. But they could not extinguish the fire,” they said.
 The fire services department was informed and the first fire tender reached after 20 minutes. As the fire service personnel started extinguishing the fire, they faced water shortage. Some people became angry and attacked the fire tender and the personnel. After some time another fire tender reached and it too faced the same problem and also came under attack.
 When contacted, the Director General, Fire and Emergency, GA Bhat said their operation  was paralyzed due to the interference by public at every level. “Normally 4-5 fire tenders are enough to control such fire. But, even 32 were not able to control it as we were not allowed by people to operate,” he said.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 27 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST