B N Singh Pappan
Saharsa : About 400 hundred houses were gutted in a devastating fire on April 8, 2017, night at village Darhar located inside Kosi Embankment in Saharsa district. Property worth crores were reduced to ashes in the fire in which around a dozen goats and hundreds of hens and cocks also perished. Six persons were injured while extinguishing the fire.
Darhar falls under Mahishi assembly constituency of Bihar assembly represented by Minority Welfare Minister Abdul Ghafoor. Ghafoor visited Darhar on April 9 and was shocked to see the condition of the village and affected villagers. He said that about 400 houses were reduced to ashes in the fire and assured all government help to the affected villagers. The fire was caused due to spark when food was being cooked at a house and engulfed the entire village, said the fire victims. The fire has put a question mark on the marriage of several girls of the village. Mohd Murtaza Ryaen of the village said that all the materials he had collected for his daughter’s marriage perished in the fire. A former Mukhia of Darhar panchayat Abdul Rahim Ryaen said that the fire victims were left with only the cloths they were wearing.
Sadar SDO, Saharsa, Saurabh Jorwal, said that about 200 families of Darhar were affected by the fire. Deputy Collector Land Reforms Rajiv Kumar, Circle Officer, Nauhatta, Mohd Safi Akhtar, and Darhar police outpost incharge Jitendra Kumar are camping at the village with SDO Jorwal. The SDO said that a generator had been provided to the village and all the affected families had been given Rs 9,800 each as compensation while food for them was being cooked at two places at the village. The villagers would start getting relief materials from April 10.