Two months’ hard-work had helped Bhoora Khatoon and her husband Rajji Khan to buy a refrigerator, an LCD TV, a cooler and a few clothes to present a gift to her sister who was about to get married in a couple of days. However, a massive fire in West Delhi’s Kirti Nagar area, which gutted about 40 juggies and left 100 people homeless from Indira Camp and Jawahar Camp, took away everything from the duo.
Khan was living in a joint family of about 20 members who shared five jhuggies among them. Most of the men of the now homeless families worked at timber factories in the proximity while women of these families used to collect wood shaving and sold them to earn a living.
The fire was so massive that fire officers said 30 fire tenders had to be rushed to the spot and it took over three hours for the firefighters to bring the situation under control. No causality was reported.
According to Khatoon, she along with her family members was sleeping when all of a sudden they heard loud cries of people. When they woke up, they found that a fire had spread all over the area.
“We were trapped inside the house as the fire was spreading and I woke up other family members. Locals broke the door of our house and rescued us. All we could do is watch our houses burn,” said Khatoon.
She further added that she along with other elders of the family had been saving money in order to buy some gifts for her sister Rukhsar, who is about to get married in a couple of weeks.
“Within a few seconds, our entire house turned into ashes. All the gifts like the refrigerator, LCD TV, cooler and the clothes, which we had purchased have been gutted. All we are left with are the clothes which we are wearing. We are homeless now and we do not know where we will take the 8-9 kids in the family in the winter,” said Khatoon.
According to Chief Fire Officer Atul Garg, Delhi Fire Services got a call at around 12 noon on Friday and around 30 fire tenders were rushed to the spot.
