JOIN USFive of family charred by inferno
Five members of a family were charred to death when a fire broke out in four jhuggis in north-west Delhi’s Bhalaswa Dairy on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
According to police, the fire looks to be a result of electric short circuit.
“Prima facie, the fire resulted because the jhuggi dwellers were trying to illegally draw electricity from the power line which was passing over their dwellings,” said Amrutha Guguloth, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North West)
The fire started around 2.15 am at the jhuggi of Mohammad Kalam, a labourer, and immediately spread to the neighbouring three huts.
Two fire tenders reached at the spot in 30 minutes after a call was made to them around 2.25 am, however, they couldn’t save the lives of five individuals.
Kalam, 35, his wife Raveena, 32, and their three children Salmat, 8, Niyamat, 5, and eight-month-old Azmat died when they couldn’t get out of their house in time as the house was locked from inside and got consumed by the flames, police said.
However, their daughter has survived as she was in Bihar when the incident happened.
“We were sleeping in our jhuggi, when around 2 am, I got up to the shouts of my eldest son Dilshad. I saw smoke entering our jhuggi from the neighbour’s shanty. I immediately told my family members to rush out and myself ran out,’’ said Badal, neighbor of Mohammad Kalam.
Badal and his family saved their life in the nick of time. However, Kalam’s family was not as lucky. According to neighbours, they used to sleep with their door locked from inside. Kalam’s wife Raveena was visually impaired which could have also hampered their movement in finding the keys and make a safe exit.
“I heard the neighbouring uncle screaming ‘fire’, ‘fire’. So I woke up and made everyone in my house get up as well. We were barely a few metres out of our house when the cylinder blew off making a loud noise which was followed by tall flames of fire moving upward,’’ said 10-year-old Dilshad.
“I went to other jhuggis who were still sleeping inside and woke them up from their slumber by making loud noises.
“When we all came out we started to look at each other but we couldn’t found Kalam uncle and his family members, and got worried,’’ Dilshad added.
When the fire stopped people were hoping to see all the neighbours alive, however, when they looked into the ashes of Kalam’s jhuggi, charred body parts and skeletons of all the members turned their mood gloomy, said a neighbour.
The four jhuggis made up of tarpaulin and wood were reduced to ashes in a matter of forty minutes.
Five people lost their lives. However, battle is not yet over for the ones who managed to survive the tragic incident. Loss of property and valuable items was also reported.
“All our belongings, which we had stored is gone. I lost jewellery worth Rs 15,000 which I had kept for the marriage of my 12-year-old daughter.
“Our Aadhar card, ration card, school books of our children, all are gone,’’ said wife of Badal.
Survivors are waiting for the government to provide some relief to them as they have lost all their belongings.
Police have registered a case under section 304-A (causing death by negligence) and further investigation is on.
Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal announced a compensation of Rs eight lakh to the deceased family – Rs two lakh each for the deceased adults and Rs one lakh for each deceased child.
Entire amount will be given to the orphaned child of the family who is in Bihar
currently.
The CM also announced Rs 25,000 for each of four families of the jhuggis burnt in the fire.