Srinagar, 05-Jan; Two houseboats were gutted in a fire at the Dal lake here in Srinagar city on Wednesday, officials said.The fire broke out at Ghat no.9 in one of the boats during morning hours and immediately spread to other house boat.Soon after the fire engulfed, the residents swung into action and were immediately joined by fire and emergency officials and stopped the fire from spreading to adjoining houseboats.One of the official told that two houseboats namely ‘Apollo 11’ and ‘New Zealand’ got completely damaged in the incident.Meanwhile, Spokesperson Houseboat Owners Association (HBOA), Yakoob Danoo, appealed the government to provide relief to owners of these houseboats on priority. He said reconstruction of a deluxe houseboat would cost around Rs three crore per houseboat.”Houseboats are heritage properties major attraction of tourists from around the world. Ironically, the successive regimes have failed to take measures for preservation of houseboats. We had several times urged the authorities to keep special fire-tender motorboats in Dal lake, but no action was taken”, said one of the local.(CNS)
