HYDERABAD: Less than a month after seven people died in a fire mishap at Gundlapochampally village in Medchal, another major fire broke out in Hyderabad on Saturday, taking the life of a 10-year-old girl and leaving 500 families living in huts, homeless.
The incident which took place at Sai Nagar in Nagole area left several others injured, while the exploding of 30 gas cylinders lead to panic in the area.
It was around 2.45 pm, when the fire started in one of the huts on the seven-acre area and within a few seconds spread rapidly. By the time fire services personnel could reach from the fire station which is 10 km away, all that was left was smoke emanating from smoldering homes and cries of those who had lost their all.
The 500 families are mainly migrant construction workers from various Telangana districts who have been residing here for five years.
Most of them were away at work, leaving only children and the elderly at home. M Sandhya (10), a class IV student died in the mishap. K Manemma (30), who migrated from Warangal said, “We lost all our money, jewellery and whatever we had.
I helped many people to come out of their burning houses.” Malkajgiri fire officer, T Srinivas said they got news around 3 pm and in 30 minutes reached the spot. “By the time we reached, 80 per cent of the huts were destroyed. 20 water tankers were pressed into service and it took nearly three hours time to control the blaze. No family was able to save their possessions as the fire spread very fast,” he added. Officials are yet to ascertain how the fire started.
MP Sarve Satyanarayana visited the spot and announced Rs 7,000 for every family for immediate arrangements. “The families will be given compensation of `1 lakh and the deceased girl’s family will be given Rs 5 lakh. We will also make arrangements to construct a house for all the affected families,” he added.
Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy directed the Rangareddy district collector V Sheshadri to extend all help and financial assistance to kin of the dead and provide medical assistance to the injured.