SRINAGAR: Rising to the occasion, people of Kashmir donated about Rs 3 crores in 12 days to build the damaged houses which were destroyed in Nawakadal gunfight in Srinagar on May 19. In the gunfight houses of 19 families were destroyed.
Abdul Rehman Dar, president of local Masjid Committee at Kanimazar Nawa Kadal said, “We opened an account in a bank and urged people to contribute generously,” he said. The Masjid committee has also started online campaigns to raise donations for reconstruction of the damaged houses.
“Not only the houses were damaged but all valuables in the houses were destroyed. Gold ornaments got melted due to fire. We fixed a particular target amount. After receiving the target amount in donations, we have stopped collecting donations from Sunday. We have made video appeal telling people that we have received the target amount and closed the bank account,” he said and expressed gratitude to people for contributing generously.
Dar said they sought assessment report from a team of engineers to know how much money is needed for completely rebuilding the damaged houses.
According to Dar it is for first time in Kashmir that locals are bearing expenses to rebuild houses damaged in the gunfight. Sources said within 12 days, on the appeal of the local community, around Rs 2.5-3 crore were collected in a bank account for building back the houses razed in the deadly gunfight. Dar said the Masjid committee has distributed Rs 33 lakhs among three families, whose family members were killed in a house collapse after the encounter ended.
“One of the families was given Rs 16 lakh and Rs 17 lakh were distributed to two other families, who lost their family members in house collapse,” Dar said.