First-hand report of a major fire in Delhi's Dwarka

On April 16, about 500 houses in Delhi's Dwarka sector 3 slum caught fire when a cooking gas cylinder exploded around 9.30am.

The Delhi Police and fire brigade officials, however, claim that not more than 100 houses were damaged.

Things got out of hand when the garbage dump, which is the prime source of livelihood of the slum dwellers, caught fire.

It is a kick in the gut for these slum-dwellers as they earn their bread and butter by selling the scrap metal they find in the garbage.

Azaad, one of the Dwarka fire victims, said, "Along with our houses, our livelihood has also gone up in flames".

As many as 20 fire-brigade trucks, (including the Kirti Nagar fire station) arrived at the site roughly 45 minutes after the fire broke out. "Initially, two cops came but they went back without offering any help," said another slum-dweller Ravi. He added, "By the time the fire trucks came, all our food, cash, jewellery and other belongings had turned into ash".

On the other hand, Hargandh Mukesh, a Delhi Police officer at the scene, assured this writer that the cops reached the fire-struck area at the earliest. One of the firefighting officials said that there were no houses but only trash in the area. "The locals show up here and pretend that their houses were destroyed to get compensation," he said. However, this writer could see burnt and ramshackled houses from less than 20m away.

Local leaders from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress showed up at the site. While AAP leader Gulaab Singh Yadav promised relief and food as soon as possible, the locals told me that former Congress MLA Mahawal Mishra had also visited the area, but didn't make any promises. As Anil (name changed on request) puts it "Unhone toh paani tak bhi nahi poocha".

Meanwhile, the victims received water pouches and biscuits as promised by Yadav. He interacted with the slum-dwellers and assessed the extent of damage.

As of 1pm, the fire brigade declared that the situation was under control and preliminary relief work would be provided soon.

But the people were unhappy as they felt the authorities took things too lightly. Ravi complains, "Should a fire in Delhi take three hours to put out? Should the fire brigade take 45 minutes to get here after a fire is reported?" But he may not be entirely wrong. Dwarka sector 6 fire station is less than 5km away from the accident site.

A similar fire had broken out in Delhi's Mongolpuri which had torched around 400 slum households in December 2015.

Although help has been promised by Yadav, a lot remains to be done. Unfotunately, the erstwhile slum-dwellers have nowhere to go.