Equipment gutted in fire at Central varsity

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, December 12

Employees had a narrow escape when a fire broke out at the convergent journalism department of the Central University of Kashmir today.

Officials said the fire broke out around 11 am. As its winter break, students were not present on the campus at the time of the incident.

They said three employee of the department received minor injuries. The department is being run from the fourth floor of a rented building in Nowgam, Srinagar.

The officials said the studio of the department, which had expensive equipment, had been completely damaged. They said the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and the damages faced by the department were being assessed.

An eyewitness said some employees were rescued through the windows of the building. He said equipment worth lakhs had been damaged in the fire.

“Fire tenders rushed to the spot on time, which saved the rest of the building from getting damaged,” they said.

The Central University of Kashmir (CUK) was established in 2009. Since then, it has been functioning from a rented accommodation.

Prof Mehraj-ud-Din, Vice Chancellor, said the end semester examination of the university would be held on December 15 as per the schedule.

The officials said a formal FIR had been lodged and a committee had been also been constituted by the university to probe the cause of the fire.