Delhi: Over 250 shanties gutted in fire in Tughlaqabad, no casualties

DFS divisional officer S K Dua said that while the fire started as a small one, it escalated to the medium category because of the small LPG cylinders in the area which caught fire and exploded leading to the quick spread of the blaze.

Over 250 shanties were gutted and a thousand people displaced after a fire broke out in Tughlaqabad village at 12.30 am on Tuesday. While no casualty has been reported, a seven-year-old girl received 30 per cent burn injuries and is undergoing treatment at Safdarjung Hospital.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that “due to the fire in the shanties in Tughlaqabad, there has been considerable loss. Delhi government will pay each affected family Rs 25,000.”

Delhi Fire Services (DFS) divisional officer S K Dua said the fire escalated from ‘small’ to ‘medium’ category at 1.25 am and was brought under control by 3.40 am. “At least 32 fire tenders and and 130 firefighters were at the spot. After the fire was doused, we began cooling operations, which went on till 8 am,” said Dua.

DFS chief Atul Garg said that by the time the fire tenders reached, the residents had already left the shanties and were safe, and that the fire escalated to medium category as LPG cylinders started bursting, and the fire spread.

On Tuesday afternoon, black soot covered the ground where shanties stood till a day ago, with their occupants searching for things that could be recovered. Charred remains of bicycles, burned pulses strewn on the ground, broken glass bottles and toys and teacups were among the few things that remained.

The homes mainly belonged to families engaged in ragpicking or dealing in scrap. Sandeep Handal (21), who sold scrap for a living, was sitting on a sack filled with pieces of metal, including the mangled remains of his bicycle. “I was sleeping when, a little after midnight, I woke up to someone shouting. I noticed it was very bright outside. When I stepped out, I saw many houses around me were engulfed in flames. That scared me and I began shivering, I couldn’t decide whether to run or to take my belongings. I just grabbed my phone and wallet. Everything else is gone,” Handal said.

Many families were sleeping at the time the fire started and had little time to save their belongings. Parvati Mandal, who works as a house-help in Tughlaqabad, had kept Rs 10,000 cash under the mattress of a cot at her home.

“That was all the money I had. I have Rs 300 in my bank, and the ATM card has also burned along with all my identity cards. The fire was so close to us that all we could do was run. My employers have not paid me since March, and have stopped picking up my calls. I don’t know what to do,” she said.

Aseem Ahmed (32) woke up to the sound of an explosion and people screaming around 1 am. He lives across the road from the shanties. “Part of my house also caught fire, but me and other people doused it with water. The heat was so intense you couldn’t stand here. People ran away into the jungles nearby,” he said.

General store owners were counting their losses. Among them was Vasunti Pal (32), who, pointing to a sack full of burned white rice, said, “I have lost Rs 7 lakh worth of things in the shop. My sister came running and woke up me and my children, otherwise we too would have not been here.”

Relief operations began by noon, with the displaced families being given meals by government volunteers and social workers. A tent was also being set up adjacent to the site for them to sleep in. Families from nearby areas also came forward to extend help. A group of five women put together old clothes to distribute among the needy. “People ran out of their homes with nothing at all. We wanted to help them as this could happen to anyone tomorrow, and we need to be there for each other,” said Geeta (32).

Southeast district magistrate Harleen Kaur said, “We are making arrangements for food, water and shelter for the displaced persons. The reason behind the fire is being investigated and we are in touch with the fire department on this.”

At 8.30 am, another fire broke out at a shoe manufacturing factory in Keshavpuram, which took eight hours to be brought under control. Garg said the factory was shut and no one was working so there are no casualties. He said, “The raw material lying there was mostly rubber, and when that catches fire, it takes several hours to douse the flames. At least 23 fire tenders and around 100 fire-fighters were deployed, the rubber kept catching fire even after it had been doused.”

Garg said that the factory had a basement, a ground floor and three floors above that, and while “it was good that there was no one inside, the problem was that there was no one to guide us either. We didn’t have a building map, no guide, and had to break several locks.” Garg said that since temperatures increased in Delhi and with opening of several office spaces, the number of fire calls have gone up from 44 on May 10 to 120 on May 23.