Fire broke out at the Mata Vaishno Devi in J-K: shrine forest area here on Tuesday.
However, the fire was brought under control by the team of the shrine board and the forest department. Meanwhile, the yatra to the holy shrine in Trikuta hills remained unaffected, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board informed in J-K:
As of now, no damage has been reported and the Yatra is conducted smoothly. Also, Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh tweeted “We are in touch with Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Trust management.”
The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
At around 4 pm, a fire incident took place at Bhawan. The fire hydrants were pressed into service and the fire was brought under control by 4.25 pm,” an official of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board said.
He said there has been no hindrance to the yatra (pilgrimage) which is progressing smoothly.
Union minister Jitendra Singh, who is also the Lok Sabha MP from Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir, said he spoke to the Reasi Deputy Commissioner over the incident.
“Spoke to DC #Reasi, S. Charandeep Singh just now and inquired about the fire that broke out near the #VaishnoDevi shrine some time back. Thankfully, everything was brought under control. No major loss was reported. However, keeping a close track for the next few hours,” he tweeted.
Earlier, the officials said a short circuit triggered the fire which was completely brought under control by 5 pm.
Visuals from the scene showed thick smoke billowing out of the building as firefighters worked to douse the flames.
The fire fighting squad of the shrine immediately swung into action after CRPF personnel raised an alarm, the officials said.