KOLKATA: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asked KMC Board of Administrators (BoA) chairman Firhad Hakim to take care of the housing needs of over 1,500 slum dwellers at Hazar Basti in Bagbazar whose shanties were gutted in a devastating fire on Wednesday. After surveying the charred homes on Thursday morning, Banerjee assured the residents that KMC would do everything in its capacity to ensure they could return home at the earliest. At present, the homeless are temporarily housed in the adjoining Bagbazar Women’s College, a community hall and two under-construction buildings in the locality.
“All the shanties will be rebuilt by KMC within 48 hours of the debris being cleared,” the CM said.
Banerjee’s visit soothed tempers in the area. An hour before her visit, irate locals had blocked Kshirode Vidyavinode Avenue to protest against the barricading of the gutted site by police. “We have lost everything in the fire. Now, we are being stopped from retrieving whatever little is left,” a youth said.
Police, however, denied the allegation and said they were only trying to ensure that the residents entered the hazardous site in an orderly manner.
A section of the slum inhabitants later demanded the government build permanent dwelling units for them. Bapi Ghosh, the local KMC ward coordinator, said that since construction of brick-and-mortar homes was time consuming, the 135 affected families — 1,500-odd people — of Hazar Basti would be provided makeshift dwelling units for now.
However, it wasn’t just KMC that lent a helping hand to the homeless. Since early morning, civic volunteers and members of several NGOs provided meals to those affected. The civic body, too, distributed rice, pulses, vegetables, eggs and milk. Clothes and blankets were also distributed among the slum residents.
“Everything has been reduced to ashes. I am lucky to have escaped with my children unhurt,” said Arati Das while surveying her charred shanty. She has taken shelter at the college.
Most slum-dwellers are struggling with not just the loss of belongings but also their identities since all documents — Aadhaar cards, ration cards and voter ID cards — have gone up in smoke.
Suraj Thakur, whose wife, two children and mother survived the fire, displayed his driving licence, saying, “This is the only document my family now has. I was carrying it while driving. Everything else is gone.”
“My husband is a labourer and I work as a domestic help. With everything gone, I do not know how I will get ration now,” said Sagarika Bhuniya.
It wasn’t just slum dwellers who were affected though. Residents of a four-storey building that was singed and subsequently developed cracks are also facing uncertainty.
On Thursday evening, a two-member forensic team accompanied Shyampukur police to the site. The sleuths spent nearly two hours collecting samples and inspecting craters left behind by LPG cylinders that had exploded during the fire. The team also spent considerable time near the local meter box. Sources in the forensic department said they will not speculate on the case. “We will wait for laboratory reports and specific footage that police will provide on the fire,” said an expert.