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More than 200 shanties gutted after fire breaks out in Gurugram’s Sector 49
Gurugram: At least 200 families became homeless at Ghasola area in Sector 49 after a massive fire broke out on Monday morning, said police
Gurugram: At least 200 families became homeless at Ghasola area in Sector 49 after a massive fire broke out on Monday morning, said police.
Police said an unknown number of cooking cylinders exploded after the fire spread, which further increased its intensity. Officials said that a seven-year-old boy sustained a severe burn injury.
Fire department officials said that the first tender reached the spot at around 12.20pm, but the firefighters immediately realised that the situation was grave after which fire stations in Sector 37, Bhim Nagar, IMT Manesar, Sohna and Udyog Vihar were immediately alerted for more fire tenders and personnel.
Fire officials said that more than 20 tenders were pressed into action and the flames were doused after almost two hours of firefighting. They said that they were able to save at least 250 shanties from getting reduced to ashes else the situation would have been much worse.
The impoverished shanty dwellers, mostly from West Bengal and Bihar, were spotted sifting the ashes to retrieve whatever belongings they could. Most of them work as domestic helpers or at construction sites, officials said.
Kamala Singh (63), one of the dwellers, said all she is left with are a few burnt utensils which she was able to retrieve after everything went up in flames. Shivering in the cold while trying to control her tears, she said that there was ₹20,000 in her hutment, which she had saved after several years of hard work.
“The cash is gone and I am homeless and penniless. My identity documents are also gone. All I am left with is the saree that I am wearing. I have nowhere to go now. I came to this city all the way from South Dinajpur, West Bengal, more than 15 years ago,” Singh said, holding a charred piece of iron frame for support.
Singh said that she had heard the sirens of fire tenders while doing dishes at her employer’s house in the neighbouring locality. “But it never came to my mind that it was my house which was burning. I returned by 2pm and was left shell-shocked to find everything gutted,” she said.
The situation was worse for her sister Monika Singh (42), who had saved ₹1.6 lakh cash for her daughter’s marriage. “Now, nothing is left. My family’s future is in the dark,” she said while tears rolled down her eyes.
Samina Biwi (48), who works in the nearby Rosewood residential society, showed a scissor which was the only item she could retrieve from the pile of ashes. “I tried to collect the burnt sack of rice, but it was of no use,” she said.
“A neighbour’s shack was the first to catch fire. The woman was cooking at that time. However, her husband picked up their child and they fled from the spot after locking the house. We later spotted smoke coming out of the hutment and before we could do anything, the fire had spread,” Biwi said.
Rajjak Sarkar (28), hailing from South Dinajpur in Bengal, Ashadul Sheikh from (32), of Malda, West Bengal, and Vijay Kumar (17), from Khagaria, Bihar — received their salaries two days ago and had kept the entire amount in their shacks.
“Before leaving for duty, I counted my entire salary to pay rent and other expenses. It’s all gone. I came here 12 years ago and purchased all household items over a period of time but everything was lost within minutes,” Sarkar said.
Residents of nearby condominiums and townships reached the site with milk packets, bread, biscuits and other eatables to distribute among the affected families.
A team of civil defence personnel also reached the spot with food for 500 persons. Team leader Ranjan Das said they will keep supplying food for the affected families till the time they are rehabilitated. “It was painful to watch these people digging through the ashes with sticks to collect foodgrain and other valuables,” he said.
Amid this crisis, several scrap dealers poured in at the spot in an attempt to make money as the affected families had started selling all burnt metal items to get some cash for purchasing warm clothes and food.
Alam Sheikh, a scrap dealer, said they are able to collect 30-40 kilograms of metal on a daily basis. “However, in the last two hours, I have collected more than 200kg of scrap metal,” he added.
Satish Yadav, subdivisional officer of Badshahpur, said that relief work was underway. “Tents are being erected at the spot. More than 500 blankets have been distributed among the affected families. The Red Cross, civil defence teams, gurudwara management members provided food to the affected families,” he said.
Yadav, who had also rushed to the spot for monitoring the situation, said that he has asked the tehsildar to use a nearby government school building for giving shelter to the affected families. The SDM said that the exact cause of the fire will be established by fire officials after a thorough investigation.
Narender Singh, fire officer of Sector 29 fire station, said that flames started from one of the shanties during cooking. “A few dwellers also confirmed it. Closely packed hutments with cooking cylinders, clothes and plyboard beds further fuelled the fire,” he said.
Inspector Rajesh Kumar, station house officer (SHO), Sector 50 police station, said that it was a vacant land acquired by Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran several years back on which these shanties came up.
“A legal battle is going on between the HSVP and a man from Badshahpur on the land ownership,” SHO Kumar said, adding that police teams were at the spot to maintain law and order.
