After the last embers, it’s all ash for Appa Pada residents

Strap: Without their homes, change of clothes, and unsure of whom to ask for help, 2,000 evacuated families begin to piece their lives back together Mumbai: Fifty-year-old Hasan Mallapa, a resident of Appa Pada in Malad East, had decided to go to sleep in the afternoon on Monday

Strap: Without their homes, change of clothes, and unsure of whom to ask for help, 2,000 evacuated families begin to piece their lives back together

Mumbai, India - Mar 14, 2023 : Pictures from Malad's Appa Pada area where nearly 800 homes were destroyed after a Massive fire broke out on March 13, Killing 1, in Mumbai, India, on Tuesday, Mar 14, 2023.(Photo by Vijay Bate/HT Photo)

Mumbai: Fifty-year-old Hasan Mallapa, a resident of Appa Pada in Malad East, had decided to go to sleep in the afternoon on Monday. He woke up suddenly to cries of people, gas cylinder explosions, and a massive fire around devouring the hutments. By the time he tried to get out of the danger zone, he was already trapped. He did not make it. An accidental death report was registered by Mumbai Police on Tuesday.

Mallappa remained the lone death in the massive fire that started in one of the 5,000 hutments on the forest land and spread to engulf 2,000 to 3,000 hutments in an area of more than 10,000 square meters. Around 2,000 families were evacuated from the area.

When HT visited the area on Tuesday morning, a huge crowd was seen going through the remains after the fire. People, who lost their houses, had called in help from their relatives and friends to recover whatever they could and clean their homes or whatever was left of it.

Heaps of ashes were seen inside each home. Initially, people could not even identify their huts, since all that was left was ash and some kitchen materials or furniture made of metals. Rest, everything looked the same.

Except for what they were wearing, people did not even have any clothes left to change. Local shop union called Kurar Vyapari Association collected clothes from shops and donated them among the affected. Volunteers dropped clothes in various parts of the disaster-struck area, and people were picking up whatever they thought would fit them and their family members.

BMC, too, donated undergarments and sanitary pads. “We have distributed around 1,000 undergarments, 800 sanitary pads and have set up a shelter for more than 4,000 people. This includes a team of doctors, mobile toilets, lunch, breakfast, biscuit packets, water, etc.,” said Kiran Dighavkar, assistant commissioner of P North ward, adding that these relief measures will continue for now.

Most of those evacuated expect the state government to provide some relief measures and said that the cost to build each home will be between ₹60,000- ₹70,000.

Rajesh Mane, who works in BMC as a cleaner and had a home here, said, “There is nothing left in my home except the tile flooring. The walls, the roof everything is destroyed. We want the government to provide us with some help to rebuild our homes.”

People were in shock and clueless about what happens next. Most of them did not know who will provide them with what sort of help and were busy clearing ashes from their home and neighbourhood. After a gruelling sleepless night, some people were seen sleeping in the remains of what used to be their homes.

While people were trying to recover whatever they can from their burnt homes, four fire engines, four ambulances and additional police force was stationed in the area to avoid any untoward incident.

Satish Gadhve, senior police inspector of Kurar police station said that two units of State Reserve Police Force (SRPF) was called as a precautionary measure so that there is no law-and-order situation. “This is a standard procedure. When large crowds are present, SRPF officials are called in,” said Gadhve

Since this is a forest land, forest officials were seen conducting a survey of the area. Local NGOs had set up a medical camp and were using the premises of a temple to cook food for the people.

Purshottam Choudhary, Madhav Seva Kendra, said, “Yesterday we provided food at night, today we expect 6,500-7,000 people to turn up for food. We have roped in volunteers from different organisations to provide food in the area.”

(With additional inputs from Megha Sood)