The Hindu : New Delhi News : Two killed in Pushta fire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Two killed in Pushta fire

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, APRIL 12. An eight-year-old boy and a man were killed when some miscreants set afire a jhuggi cluster in Dholak Basti in the Yamuna Pushta area of North Delhi this afternoon just as a demolition drive by the Delhi Development Authority was going on in the vicinity. Four police personnel also sustained injuries when the miscreants, who were trying to thwart the demolition drive, attacked them.

The Delhi Fire Service, which pressed 34 fire tenders into service to control the blaze, said the fire was reported around 2-20 p.m. and was declared under control by 3-30 p.m. However, by then almost all of the 2,500 to 3,000 jhuggies in the area had been completely gutted.

Interestingly, just prior to this fire, there was another fire in a nearby cluster, which was doused by the fire personnel. But, just as they were returning from the spot, they received information about five different fires having started simultaneously in the slum area. It took a great effort on part of the fire personnel to bring this deliberately started blaze under control.

Later, during a search operation, the badly burnt bodies of an eight-year-old boy, later identified as Chotu, the son of Abdul Zafar, and an unidentified man were found in the debris. The police later registered a case of arson and arrested four persons, Mohammad Bilal, Saleem, Javed and Shahnawaj Khan. The police said Bilal was involved in at least four criminal cases.

According to some eyewitnesses, the fire was deliberately started by a group of miscreants, as they were opposed to the demolition in the area by the DDA since not all families staying in the cluster are being rehabilitated. Only those who have been staying in the cluster before 1996 are getting plots in Bawana and Holambi Kalan under the rehabilitation programme. The others have been asked to look for alternate accommodation on their own.

The fire, meanwhile, forced the DDA to stop the demolition drive mid-way. The authority, which had been entrusted with the task of pulling down around 12,000 hutments between Vijay Ghat and Old Yamuna Bridge, has thus far removed 2,500 jhuggis in Tejpal ki Bagichi and Data Basti.

The Commissioner (Land Management) of DDA, Dharmendra, said the fire that engulfed the jhuggi cluster was deliberately started by some miscreants to stop the demolition process, which had been progressing smoothly.

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