HYDERABAD: The fire that devastated hut-dwellers at at Gundla Pochampally in Medchal mandal on the outskirts of the city on Saturday, has many heart-rending tales to tell. The area was littered with burnt rice and dal in steel utensils, gas cylinders and metal tools, cinders of everything else. Seven completely-charred bodies with no flesh left on them were shrouded and were lying in different corners of the accident spot.
To Pentamma and Ramayya, who hail from Kondappalli in Medak district, it was not a loss of life that moved them but the loss of their earnings of a lifetime. Both rummaged through the ashes, which their hut turned into, for a few grams of gold which they believed was lost in the mishap. “It was the earning of a life time. All our savings have gone in a flash. now we are searching for the gold in the ashes,” said Pentamma.
Tayamma, mother of a 2-year-old Triveni, said, “Tayappa had come home for lunch from work and left this world itself along with Triveni.”
In contrast, in the midst of the heaps of ashes of burnt-down huts and alongside wailing women stood one man who did not show any sign of distress and yet was very much a victim of the tragedy. Though he was deeply wounded by the loss of his 80-year-old mother and 8-year-old son, he did not shed a single tear. While families after families cried for relief and rehabilitation, Buran Shah, who hails from Veltur village in Mahaboobnagar district, had no complaints. Being one of the workers who could converse in Hindi and Telugu, he provided patient answers to people who asked him a myriad questions about the tragedy.