Fire guts 450 shanties, leaves 2,500 homeless near Rithala

NEW DELHI: An early morning blaze gutted over 450 shanties at Netaji Subhash Colony near Rithala on Monday, rendering over 2,500 people homeless.
The residents, mostly migrant daily wagers from Bangladesh, had established a colony on a on open plot to work at nearby construction sites. Around 12.30am, fire began at a shack in a corner and soon spread through the cluster, as most of constructions had plastic and plywood.Fire officials said a short circuit or a smouldering beedi butt sparked the blaze.
As soon as they received a call about the blaze, the fire brigade deployed five engines. But these couldn’t reach the site as the approach lanes were clogged with debris dumped by a civic body repairing sewers.
The engines had to take a longer detour to reach the site, after breaking down a wall. Rescue work could begin only around 3am. By this time, the blaze had attained monstrous proportions with electricity poles falling over the hutments and LPG cylinders bursting.
The delay in the rescue operations angered the people so much that they started pelting stones at the firemen, injuring one of them. Police were soon deployed to control the situation. Eventually, 35 fire tenders had to be deployed to bring the fire under control.
While there was no loss of life, the people lost important possessions, cash and identity papers among others. Shamir ul-Khan (65) had Rs 12,000 in new notes, which he planned to deposit in a Jan Dhan account. “I earn Rs 1,100 per month and had been saving up. All the money is gone along with my Aadhaar card and other documents. My son died years ago, and my daughter-in-law and grandchildren are dependent on my income,” Khan said.
Loss of identity proof means many of these people now have no access to their bank accounts. “I lost three goats and poultry, which I would have sold for the new notes,” said Naseema Bibi who works as a domestic help.
Mahrum Sheikh lost his only source of income. “I still haven’t managed to repay the loan I took for a rickshaw. It’s gutted,” he said.
Keshto Das had only received his salary the previous day in new notes. “All of it is now gone,” he said.
Earlier in 2011, a similar fire had gutted the shanties here, incidentally on the same date, but the residents hadn’t received any compensation. AAP MLA Mohinder Goel visited the site at noon and offered temporary relief.