20220313 5 kids among 7 killed in northeast Delhi slum inferno
India Mar 13 2022 “Building” “Houses”
Dead : dead 5 to 9 Burnout : more than 70 Injured : injured 1 to 9
5 kids among 7 killed in northeast Delhi slum inferno
Updated: 2022-03-13
The fire left around 150 people without a home.
NEW DELHI: A cluster of 60 hutments in north-east Delhi’s Gokulpuri turned into a death trap for seven, including five children, early Saturday morning when a fire at the entrance of the settlement cut off their escape, sealing their fate. Having probably started from a heap of trash, the blaze spread across the entire area with people – jolted out of sleep – scrambling to get away in the dark as the power went off. Four people suffered burns.
The fire department received a call around 1am and it took them around 2-3 hours to completely douse the fire. Thirteen fire tenders were rushed to the spot and cooling operations continued till noon. The cause of the fire is still being investigated but prima facie it appears it started from that trash heap which had inflammable material.
Ravina lost five people in her family — two brothers, a sister, sister-inlaw and a nephew. Another brother has been injured two brothers, a sister, sister-inlaw and a nephew. Another brother has been injured Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal reached the slum cluster by noon and announced compensation for the victims – Rs 10 lakh for the next of kin of each adult who died, Rs 5 lakh each for families of the children who died and Rs 25,000 for each shanty that was gutted.
The first fire tender had reached by 1.18am. Around 1.50am, more fire tenders were pressed into service. The road leading to Gokulpuri village was uneven, making accessing the area difficult for the fire tenders. Senior fire official Rajesh Shukla explained that when a fire breaks out in a slum, it spreads in all directions and one cannot decide on the line of attack.
In this instance, since the fire started at the front and there are buildings at the rear, people found it difficult to get away. The lanes are anyway narrow and congested. The flames fed on two heaps of trash – one of tyres and discarded rubber material and the other of cardboard stacks – posing a big challenge to the firefighters. “Rubber flames not only rise quite high, but are also toxic,” said Shukla.
The first family to be affected was that of Pintu (35) and his wife Ruma (30). Two of their children managed to escape while two, identified as Roshan (13) and Deepika (9), were caught in the blaze and eventually died. The second family was that of Rajjan (55) and his wife Munni (50). While Munni and her son Sujit (18) suffered burns, the family lost five members. Rajjan’s sons Bablu (28) and Ranjit (17), daughter Reshma (14), daughter-in-law Priyanka (18), who was pregnant, and grandson Shahenshah (12) could not find their way out and died in the blaze.
The fire left around 150 people – who are mostly from UP and do small jobs like picking trash, cleaning ears and selling goods on the roadside – without a home. Most of their belongings were destroyed and despite frantic attempts to salvage some items, they couldn’t retrieve much. On Saturday morning, when TOI visited the area, many people were rummaging through the charred remains of their lives.
Shamli (16) picked up a brick and hit the charred and still smouldering remains to salvage her sewing machine. Her finger started bleeding, and finally she gave up and broke down. “My mother worked hard and collected Rs 5,000 to buy this machine for me. This helped me earn Rs 500 a month but now I don’t know when we will be able to buy another one,” she wailed.
Police officers, along with volunteers from NGOs, were trying to set up a makeshift shelter for the residents. Members of NGO Janpahal had erected a tarpaulin and were seen moving around distributing fruits and water. They were constantly checking on the people, trying to provide them with the things they needed.
“Breakfast for around 150 people was arranged by police. A close watch is being kept in the area for maintaining law and order. Additional manpower has been provided to ensure smooth flow of items for the displaced families. Temporary toilets have also been provided to the families by the district administration,” said additional, North-East, Devesh Mahla.
Web Source: The Times of India