A massive fire broke out at wastepicker’s community at Panchsheel Colony, Bhopura in Ghaziabad at around 12:30 am on Sunday.
Over 150 shanties were gutted although fortunately there has been no loss of lives. However, 700 wastepickers have been badly affected by the fire and have lost all their belongings. Chintan’s learning centre for wastepicker children where over a 100 children from these communities come every morning to study, has not been affected, but with the huge loss to the community, will their children be able to come to school?
Chintan’s entire Voice for Waste team headed by its manager, Imran Khan and members of the No Child in Trash team have been at the site since early morning assessing the damage and providing much needed support to the community.
A survey has been conducted by Chintan to know the number of adults and children that have been affected. They are in urgent need of food, clothes, and essential items.
About Chintan: Chintan partners with the informal recycling sector, such as wastepickers and kabaris, to clean up cities, recycle more efficiently and create livelihoods for wastepickers. As a result, it is also able to help children working as rag-pickers go to school, as families earn steadier incomes.
The article was originally published on http://www.iamin.in/
