12 days on, Bawana fire victims still waiting for tarpaulin sheets

12 days ago, Angoori Devi's world came to a standstill. The 65-year-old, who has no family and lives on a meagre pension, lost her small home to a massive fire that broke out in northwest Delhi's Bawana JJ Colony on April 12.

Since the incident, Angoori and 1,000 other affected families have been braving the deadly Delhi heat without a roof over their heads. The Delhi government is yet to provide them with tarpaulin sheets to use as makeshift tents. The G- and F-block, where the incident took place, housed nearly 750 jhuggies. The fire broke out around 2 pm in F-block and soon spread to G block.

A team of the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) visited the G-block on Monday. The officers said they were to count the number of affected families in order to provide them with tarpaulin sheets. "We could not survey the block earlier because all the officers were roped in for MCD elections. We are issuing slips to residents to identify them for compensation," a DDMA officer said.

Another problem is that most people have lost all their documents, including ID proofs, in the fire and have nothing to show to avail the compensation. "Many jhuggies are registered in the name of two or more people. We are verifying the rightful owners," the officer said.

The residents have alleged that this was not an accident and that their homes were deliberately put on fire at the behest of the political leaders ahead of the municipal elections. The Capital voted for the municipal polls on April 23. A case in this regard has been registered at the Narela police station.

Interestingly, both the police and the fire department are yet to ascertain the cause of the blaze. The police claimed that they are awaiting the report from the Delhi Fire Services (DFS), while the latter said it was not their job to ascertain the cause of fire.

"The police had filed an FIR in the case. They have to take up the investigation to ascertain the cause of fire. It is not our job to investigate that. It is a matter of forensic examination," Delhi Fire Chief GC Mishra said.

The cause of the fire is not the prime issue on the victim's minds now. Most are now worried about the future. Gyasi Ram, 60, of G-block said he was hoping be compensated, like the residents of F-block.

"People from the SDM's office visited the place on April 20. They did a survey of F-block and identified people who were eligible for a compensation of Rs 25,000," Ram said. A total of 161 families have, so far, received compensation cheques in F-block, housing over 500 jhuggies.

Rakesh, who got burn injuries on his hand, rued that the compensation amount was not enough. "What is Rs 25,000? We have lost our homes, clothes, utensils, bedding, and all the essentials. Can we rebuild our homes with this meager amount?" he asked. earlier incident

This is not the first time that fire has destroyed these houses. In a similar fire four years ago, nearly 800 jhuggies were burnt down.

The government had moved these jhuggies from Savan Park in Ashok Vihar in 2007 on the promise of rehabilitating them. Ten years on, nothing has happened.