Fire destroys 250 jhuggis in Mangolpuri

A major fire broke out in a slum in Northwest Delhi’s Mangolpuri area, gutting at least 250 jhuggis. The incident occurred at 1.30 am Monday, said police, adding that no one was injured. However, most residents lost all their belongings. Police said authorities are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire.
Residents said they woke up to the sound of an explosion. They rushed out of their houses and saw that a fire had engulfed some of the houses. They realised the explosion they heard was of LPG cylinders blasting.

Around 1,500 people stay in the area. Apart from the jhuggis, a few cloth godowns were also gutted. The fire also destroyed a high tension wire that ran above the jhuggis, resulting in power disruption in the area. An electricity tower also melted.

Fire department officials said 28 fire tenders rushed to the area after receiving a call at 2.06 am. “We doused the flames by 7.05 am,” said an official.
Sitting in corner of her gutted house, Saheen, a resident, said she saw the fire break out in one of the jhuggis. “At 1.30 am, I saw that one of the jhuggis had caught fire. In a few minutes, it spread to the surrounding houses. We took some of our documents and ran,” she said.

For Santosh Kumar, it was a nightmare. “I heard a loud explosion and rushed out of my house. I did not even get time to collect my documents,” he said.
Kumar, who works at a plastic manufacturing industry nearby, pointed to what was left after the flames were doused.

“My washing machine, TV, fridge, fan — everything was destroyed. Scrap dealers will not even give me Rs 5,000 for goods worth Rs 1 lakh that I had bought over years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the area at 3 pm and announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 for those rendered homeless by the fire.
Kejriwal added that the residents will be rehabilitated on a priority basis.

“We will give you pucca houses, but for that you have to wait. I assure you that you will be the first ones to be allotted the houses,” he said.

Sources said makeshift tents are being set up in a nearby park and food is being provided by the government. District magistrate (Northwest) Sanjay Goel said water supply has been provided to the residents and toilet facilities have been arranged.

Divisional Commissioner Anbarasu was also present at the spot. “A 24-hour helpdesk will be available for the people. We will begin a survey Tuesday morning to ascertain the number of people affected by the fire and make a list for disbursing compensation,” he said.