[ Mingkeng Osik ]
KERANG, 17 Jun: Members of the Adi Ba:ne Kebang Youth Wing (ABKYW), along with members of the ABK apex, the ABK Siang district unit and the ABKYW East Siang district unit on Sunday provided financial assistance of Rs 6,92,283 to the families affected by fire accidents that had occurred in Kerang-1 village in Kaying circle and Gaseng village in Payum circle of Siang district.
The fire accident in Kerang-1 took place on 8 June and reduced nine houses and 10 granaries to ashes, while the one in Gaseng village burnt down five houses.
Although the district administration providedimmediate relief to the victims to some
extent, a lot had been lost in the tragedies.
Therefore, on 9 June, the ABKYW, led by its president Oki Dai, organised a donation drive for the fire victims of both the villages in various districts, including Siang, Upper Siang, West Siang, East Siang, Namsai, and Papum Pare.
The amount of Rs 6,92,283 collected during the drive were handed over to the affected families of both the villages on Sunday, with each affected family receiving Rs 36,436. Those who lost their granaries received Rs 8,218 each.
ABK president Tadum Libang urged the people of both the villages to “take preventive measures from now on to avoid such incidents in the future,” and advised them to “not undertake household electrical works on your own but take the assistance of professional electricians and engineers in order to avoid fire incidents caused by electrical short-circuits.”
He also advised the villagers to maintain a distance of at least 10 metres between any two houses and practice the age-old tradition of lamkang (assigningrotational supervision duties), involving the village youths, “so that if such an incident occurs, the fire can be identified and put out at the earliest.”
ABKYW president Oki Dai expressed gratitude to all the donors, and urged the state government and the district administration to “provide fire extinguishers and conduct fire incident-related mock drills and awareness programmes in remote villages where timely arrival of fire brigades becomes a challenge.”
Meanwhile, the Sirum Angong Society from Sika Bamin contributed Rs 40,113, and public leader Tamat Gamoh contributed Rs 5,000 to the affected families of Kerang-1 village.
