The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : 100 huts gutted in Nandambakkam

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Tuesday, Jun 16, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

100 huts gutted in Nandambakkam

Special Correspondent

No one injured, but damage to property extensive in the fire along the banks of the Adyar

— Photo: A.Muralitharan

SOMBRE: The site along the banks of Adyar river in Nandambakkam where several huts were gutted on Monday.

TAMBARAM: More than 100 huts were destroyed in a fire along the banks of the Adyar in Nandambakkam early on Monday. Though no one was injured, damage to property was extensive.

Officials at the Chennai Suburban Commissionerate said the fire broke out at one of the huts in Vatlagundu at 2.15 a.m. It spread rapidly and destroyed 108 huts. Residents managed to pull themselves and their children to safety, but were able to retrieve only a few of their possessions. Fire tenders put out the fire, but by then most of the damage was done. A large number of people from Vatlagundu in Dindigul district had settled down in the area, erecting thatched huts over the past several years and hence the name for the locality. Police said many families had gone to their native place and many of the huts were empty.

Men and women living here are mostly construction workers and daily wage earners working in residential apartments, hospitals and commercial complexes in Manapakkam and Nandambakkam.

Kancheepuram Collector Santhosh K. Misra visited the spot and instructed officials of Nandambakkam Town Panchayat and the Revenue Department to provide essential relief materials, including rice and clothes, in addition to Rs.2,000 cash per family. Revenue officials said they had identified a piece of land to re-settle those families whose huts were destroyed in the fire.

Police officials speculated that as the fire broke out early in the morning, an electrical short circuit should have been the cause. Nandambakkam police were conducting further investigations.

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