MITHI: A devastating fire that engulfed an entire locality in Khensar town within no time on Saturday destroyed as many as 230 houses and other structures.

The fire was believed to have broken out in the kitchen of some house quickly spread to neighbouring houses in Bajeer locality of the tiny desert town.

The fire victims Azeem Bajeer, Abdul Rauf, Badal Bajeer, Bilawal, Abdul Rahim and others told journalists that they had informed officials of the district administration and asked them to send fire tenders to put out the inferno soon after the fire broke out but most of the houses had already been destroyed by the time the fire tenders arrived.

They said that the fire gutted valuable belongings, gold ornaments, cash and stocked grain and burnt alive a number of cattle heads. “The blaze has rendered over 2,000 villagers homeless in one of the most devastating fires in the history of Tharparkar,” they lamented.

They said that a number of people also suffered burns while trying to extinguish the raging flames and salvage their property. They demanded adequate compensation for the huge losses the horrific fire had inflicted on them.

Grand Democratic Alliance MPA Haji Abdul Razzak Rahimoon expressed deep concern over the large scale damage caused by the fire and said that he himself had informed the officials to send the fire tenders but a major portion of the locality had already been destroyed before the vehicles could reach there.

He demanded that a survey be carried out to assess the losses and pay sufficient compensation to the fire victims.

Tharparkar deputy commissioner Mohammad Nawaz Soho said that he had already directed officials to reach the fire-hit locality and provide relief items to the victims as soon as possible.

“Revenue officials have started relief operation in the locality,” he said and added that he would write to high-ups to release proper amount of compensation to the victims after complete survey and assessment of losses caused by the huge fire.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2021