Massive fire breaks out in Delhi slum

A massive fire broke out at a South-East slum in Delhi at Tuglakabad area on Monday midnight. Over 1500 shanties were completely burnt and destroyed in the accident. There were no reports of casualties. The police along with fire force personals arrived on time and evacuated the area before any person was killed in the accident.

The exact reason for the fire to break out is still not known. Thick smoke and fire was reported from the area at around 12.50 am. Fire engines and police personals arrived at the spot and moved all the slum dwellers to safe places in spite of all of them being asleep. Many people have become homeless in the incident.

Delhi is one of the worst hit states due to spread of COVID-19. Thousands of migrant workers were left jobless in the city and are currently living in slums and roadside shanties. There is criticism that the state or central government has not provided ample facilities for migrant workers and slum dwellers even when there is a risk of the spread of COVID-19.

Social media reactions

Sharing the picture of a young girl sitting outside one of the burnt slums, social media user Bharati Chaturvedi tweeted, “Habiba’s wastepicking parents haven’t earned anything for 2 months. They can’t afford net for d kids’ online classes. They’ve eaten off donations. Now, they’ve lost everything they owned to a massive fire in Delhi’s Tuglaqabad slum. This is how COVID19 is making d poor poorer.

“2020 is deadly, on the blissful occasion of Eid, yesterday late night A fierce fire broke out in Tughlakabad. The area lies between tuglakabad extension and tuglakabad gaon named as neem chowk where migrant workers, scrap dealers reside”, tweeted another social media user Somoshree Bhattacharyya.

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