40 shanties gutted in Tangra slum fire

KOLKATA: Over 40 shanties were reduced to ashes at Kulia Tangra slum, close to the animal slaughter house at Tangra, on Wednesday afternoon. Though one person fell ill because of the thick smoke, no loss of life was reported. According to Ayesha Bibi, a resident, the fire was first spotted at a mud house at 1PM."Before anyone could understand what's going to happen, the blaze spread fast and engulfed the adjoining shanties. We have lost all our belongings as no one dared to enter the mud houses," said Reshmi Khatoon, another local.A team of officials from Tangra PS reached the spot around 1.30pm, followed by the fire brigade. Ten fire engines were pressed into service and the flames were doused after an hour. fought the flames for more than an hour, the fire was brought under control.However, some locals were not happy with the fire department's role. "The fire officials took more than an hour to reach the spot. Had they reached earlier, some hutments could have been saved," said Nazmul Haque, a labourer and a resident of the slum.A visit to the fire-ravaged slum revealed that the locals were in search of their valuables despite a tight security cover preventing anybody into the area where the fire brigade personnel had been busy in dousing the fire. "Amina Bibi was seen searching something with an infant in her lap. "Can you tell me when will I get at least some warm clothes as I have lost everything in the fire," she asked.Though a strong rumor was doing rounds that two infants had received serious injury and were sent to a government hospital, police ruled out such incident saying that there had been no news of any casualties in the area. "Only one fell unconscious because of the smoke," said Debabrata Das, deputy commissioner, south eastern division.Train services were disrupted on the Sealdah-Barrackpore and some other routes following the fire.