Survivors of Delhi shelter fire cling to familiarity

The NGO Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), which runs the shelter home sent twelve blankets and asked the caretaker to move the homeless men to nearby homes

A day after a fire gutted the Coolie Camp Night Shelter in Vasant Vihar, its five survivors, including a caretaker, have found shelter at a nearby temple, choosing to stay in the area because it feels familiar.

Subhanshu Das, 61, came to Delhi from Odisha 21 years ago. (HT Photo)

The blaze, that broke out in the early hours of Monday, killed at least two people and destroyed the belongings of five others. Later in the day, the NGO Society for the Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), which runs the shelter home sent twelve blankets and asked the caretaker to move the homeless men to nearby homes.

But 67-year-old Amarjeet Singh said the neighbours were his family. The fire not only cost him his possessions, but his livelihood — he had been working as a sweeper at the home since July 2023, when the previous worker quit.

“We will eventually have to move somewhere else but this place and people are all that I have,” he said, talking about how he left his home in a village 50km away from Chandigarh after failing in fifth standard.

The temple is poor substitute for a shelter home — covered only by a roof and with a boundary wall that stops at the knee, chilly winds pass through from all directions.

“The NGO had sent food on Sunday at 6pm. Yesterday, the police fed us, and then the neighbours around are helping,” he said, tearing up as he spoke — the helplessness evident in his eyes.

61-year-old Subhanshu Das, who holds a diploma in electronics repair, came to Delhi from Odisha 21 years ago due to ideological differences with his family.

“I came to Delhi in January 2005 and worked as a security guard. But few years back they retired me. I am jobless, but everyone is right, why would hire anyone an old person like me?” said Das.

“I will wait for the shelter to get repaired and will sleep in the temple till then. At least I know people here and they know me,” Das added.

50-year-old Sagar (one name), who workers as a daily wage sweeper in Munirka, said Delhi minister of home Ashish Sood visited those rendered homeless by the fire and gave hope to us. Sood visited the shelter home along with RK Puram MLA Anil Sharma on Tuesday.

“Even if they give us a temporary tent structure, we will happily manage,” he added.

The youngest of the survivors, 26-year-old Chandrabaan who returned from his village in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, just three days before the incident said he didn’t move anywhere because he wanted to tell the police and politicians visiting the spot “how I lost everything in the fire”.

A case has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to fire) and 106 (causing death by negligence), and an investigation is into the cause of the fire is underway.