As massive fire reduces Indirapuram jhuggis to ashes, residents say they lost home, savings, identity

As teams of firefighters rushed in to contain the fire that tore through 150 to 200 shanties in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad on Thursday, residents were restless to go back to what once they called their home — towards the smouldering ruins of the jhuggis they stayed in. Smoke still curled out of heaps of charred tin and wood, houses and belongings reduced to coal and ash.

In the debris, residents — mostly migrants from Bihar — sifted frantically through the remains, searching not for valuables, but for papers that could prove that they belong here: Aadhaar cards, ration cards, voter IDs and their children’s birth certificates.

“We only have these clothes that we are wearing, left. Now that everything is gone, how will we prove that we belong here?,” 43-year-old Mohammad Hasim said.

On Thursday afternoon, the fire allegedly started near one of the plastic factories and spread to the shanties in Indirapuram’s Kanawani.

Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Mandar confirmed that there was no casualty.

While officials said the fire broke out between 12.30 pm and 1 pm, residents said it started around 11:30 am, when children were at school and the adults at work.

Most women residing in these jhuggis work as househelps in nearby high-rise buildings, while men work as labourers, e-rickshaw drivers or scrap workers.

Once the fire was brought under control, people rushed to collect utensils, appliances, cycles and everything they thought could be used.

Mohammad Hasim, a resident of Bihar’s Saharsa who works as a tailor in Vasundhara’s Sector 2, lost his tailoring machine. “The clothes people had given me to repair are burnt. My Aadhaar card, the birth certificates of my daughters are burnt. What paper do I produce now to prove we are Indians?” he said wiping his tears. He was carrying one of his daughters.

For 45-year-old Salma from Katihar, it was her daughter’s gold jewellery that “melted” in the fire. “She was going to get married in June. All my savings have turned into ashes. Who will support us?” she said.

Roza (28) and Salman (31) stared at their five-year-old son’s new bicycle that still stood outside their jhuggi, but burnt. “His books are gone too. We had saved Rs 3,000 for his books and dress. That’s gone too. I recently got my salary and saved some money for his books. What now?” said Roza.

Even as smoke engulfed the area, people hardly stopped trying to collect whatever they could. “Our lives will not be normal any more. We pay Rs 2,000 to the local contractor to stay here. This month, he will ask for the rent too. We only have ashes left,” said Sonu.

The tragedy in Ghaziabad came a day after another slum cluster was destroyed in a similarly massive fire in Lucknow’s Vikas Nagar on Wednesday evening.