Sanjay Yadav

Gurugram, May 3

At least 240 shanties were gutted in a massive fire that broke out in slums near Banjara Market in the Sector 53 area on Friday.

Gas leak during cooking led to blaze

Rajjak, a native of West Bengal, told us that a fire had broken out due to gas leakage while cooking. It was the bursting of a small cylinder that aggravated the fire. It took over nine fire tenders and five hours to control the fire. Around 240 shanties were gutted in the incident. — A senior fire officer

As over 150 small and big gas cylinders burst in the fire, it rapidly spread in the area and a plume of smoke was seen in the sky. It was later found that gas leakage while cooking had caused the fire.

More than nine fire engines were pressed into service and it took over five hours to control the fire, but the shanties had been reduced to ashes by then. Some residents sustained mild burns while taking out their belongings from the shanties, but no one was critically injured in the fire.

Over 1,000 persons were left homeless as they also lost their valuables, including cash, jewellery and important documents. The local police, civil defence team and some private NGOs are reportedly helping these slum dwellers in their rehabilitation process.

According to a fire official, around 10.40 am this morning, a fire broke out in a shanty while its residents were cooking. The residents of the area immediately called the fire brigade as the fire soon spread across the shanties.

Over 150 small and big cylinders caught the fire and blasts started occurring in the slum one after the other.

It was after some minutes when three fire tenders and a team of firefighters from the Sector 29 fire station reached the spot. Soon after, fire engines from the Bhim Nagar, Sector 37 and Udyog Vihar and DLF fire stations also reached here.

More than nine fire tenders with around 100 fire fighters were pressed into service. They finally managed to control the fire after five hours, but people's items and valuables were already gutted in the fire by then.

The police said most of the slum residents were from West Bengal. While many of these men do different work, for example as security guards and labourers, most women are working as domestic help.

"When I spotted the fire, the residents of jhuggi were screaming for help and someone asked me to call the fire brigade. Soon, the fire began spreading to all shanties due to a blast in mini gas cylinders," said Ayub, a native of West Bengal.

Another resident Anisha Bano said, "I was outside my jhuggi when I saw flames coming from a Jhuggi. Most of the families were out for work at the time of the incident, thus most of their valuables were gutted in fire. However, I could save some of my household items and valuables as I saw the fire before it could reach our shanty."

A local resident said slums were being established in the city on government or private land to collect rent. The rent charged for a slum is usually Rs 1,500 and above. Besides, the contractors who provide slums on rent also steal electricity.