Fire victims pick up pieces

Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, November 16

Left penniless and pushed into homelessness, Ram Rattan (55) doesn’t know how he will continue earning his livelihood after he and 219 others lost their shanties to a massive fire on the day of Diwali.

Two days later, the bricklayer, though devastated, started building makeshift structures with poles and yellow tarpaulin sheets they received from social organisations.

“We haven’t received a penny yet. I lost my cash and my wife’s jewellery to the fire,” he says while sitting on his plot.

Even though yesterday’s spell of rain made the place muddy, slum dwellers are not willing to leave the site.

“We have got tarpaulin sheets. We would erect a tent at the same location where we used to live,” says Ram Das as the others nod in an agreement.

According to senior officials, a majority of victims had opted to sleep in the open fields near their old homes despite being offered a shelter on the Mansa Devi temple premises and other vacated spots.

The slum cluster has been home to migrants that mostly work as construction workers. Most of them belong to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The fire here broke out around 3.15 pm on Diwali.

Most slum dwellers claimed that their ID cards, cash and jewellery were destroyed in the fire.

SDM Richa Rathee said an official had been stationed at the spot to take care of those affected by the fire.

“They are being provided with everything they need — food, clothing, shelter — with the help of NGOs and social workers,” she said.