STen shops were gutted during a midnight blaze at Maharaja Bazar in Srinagar, prompting the former finance minister Altaf Bukhari to demand compensation for the victims.
“Many localities especially in Amirakadal constituency arenot only congested but due to narrow lanes and by-lanes the fire department attimes faces immense difficulties in controlling the fire incident,” saidBukhari, in a statement.
He urged the district administration Srinagar to ensure distributionof an interim compensation to the victims before a final assessment of theirdamages is conducted by the revenue officials.
He also urged the municipal authorities to facilitateimmediate issuance of permissions for reconstruction of the shops so that thefire hit families are able to resume their day-to-day business.