Fire destroys four houses in Kurseong

EOI, Kurseong, 9 Sept 2014 : Four houses including three wooden and a concrete house were gutted down completely by a devastating fire late last night at Gairigaon area in Tung under Kurseong sub-division. Although the wooden houses were completely destroyed, there were no reports of any casualties in the fire. The houses belonged to Narbu Sherpa, Tashi Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa and Dorjee Sherpa, according to police sources.

Two fire tenders from Kurseong Fire Station along with the help of the locals were able to control the fire after around one and half hour of struggle.  The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but sources said Passang Sherpa had lit a candle at his house and later the same candle many have led to the fire. The fire spread rapidly because of the wooden structure and the high winds, spreading to the adjacent house in quick succession.

As the incident occurred during the night, all the family members including their children of the four houses were sleeping in their respective houses but fortunately, no one was injured.

Narbu Sherpa said he is unaware of how the fire started, but it seemed to have originated from his brother Passang’s house. He estimated a property totalling Rs.40 lakh were completely destroyed in the fire.

Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma, the area GTA Sabhasad Anosh Thapa, Kurseong BDO officials, concerned Panchayat officials and Hill TMC leaders including Rajen Mukhia and NB Khawas also visited the incident site and took stock of the situation.

Talking to the reporters, Thapa said the GTA has distributed mattresses, blankets and a gas stove with a cylinder to the fire victims. He also said that they will try their best to provide other aids under the Backward Caste Welfare (BCW) department.

NB Khawas said that from their side they have already informed the district and block administration to execute appropriate aids and other relief measures for the victims along with government aids and facilities to the victims for the immediate reconstruction of their houses.

St. Mary’s I Gram Panchayat, secretary, Sangeeta Lama said that with the help of Panchayat and BDO department, relief commodities including food grains have been provided to all the four families. They have been provided temporary accommodation at a local forest department cottage.