Rohini slum blaze: Nearly 2,500 people face daunting task to rebuild lives after fire ravages 800 jhuggis

NEW DELHI: In the aftermath of a fire that gutted around 800 jhuggis in Rohini on Sunday, nearly 2,500 people are left with nothing. They called these shacks home for over two decades, and a day later, kept sorting through the wreckage, hoping to retrieve something useful.

Among the survivors was six-year-old Adil Sheikh, who picked his way barefoot through the debris, his feet bruised and bleeding from shards of glass and twisted metal. Ignoring his mother's desperate calls, he bent down again and again to collect burnt scraps, the remains of his brand-new school notebooks. "We just got him admitted to a govt school," said 25-year-old Ruksar, wiping soot off his face.
Not far away, Rehman Saeed sat silently, holding onto his phone with a picture of Sayida, his three-year-old niece who lost her life in the fire. "My brother came home from work to find his shack in flames," he said. "He grabbed his little son and told Sayida to wait outside. She was too young to understand... she ran towards the fire, calling for him." Hands trembling, Saeed said, "When he finally found her, there was nothing left. Just bones. She was only a baby."

With their homes, these families of mostly ragpickers have also lost their vital documents - Aadhaar cards, other ID proofs, school papers - leaving them anxious about how they would rebuild their lives.

Removing parts of a broken cooler and other debris, 28-year-old Bhola said, "I rushed here, saved as many as I could, pulled out 20 goats. Despite the devastation, he stayed behind, working tirelessly to clear the wreckage, one cartload at a time.

The devastation stretched in every direction: charred goats, burnt puppies, melted coolers and black ash coating the ground. Some families have set up flimsy shelters, tying bedsheets across four wooden poles, to shield themselves from the brutal sun. At one corner, a young mother sat under a torn cloth, nursing her 18-day-old baby in the open heat.

Hasiba (40) stood beside her makeshift shelter with her four-year-old child, still wearing fire-stained clothes. She pointed to the fragile tin and plastic structure, saying, "This is all I could make for my child." The small space, their new home, was a symbol of their desperate situation.

Kasib, whose four-year-old cousin Alam died in the fire, said, "His father is at the hospital, trying to get whatever is left of him for the last rites." The 21-year-old added, "We are here, trying to help, but there's no one else. How is a family supposed to mourn when their home is burned to the ground?"

While some food came from the local subdivisional magistrate's office, many of the survivors are grappling with severe health issues: persistent cough, injuries and walking barefoot on broken glass as their slippers have burned. Children's faces remain blackened with soot as there's hardly any water for cleaning and even drinking.

A senior govt official, however, said, "Delhi govt is fully active in providing every possible assistance to the affected families. Senior BJP functionaries as well as SDM officials, along with MCD, reached the site immediately to coordinate relief efforts. We have arranged mobile toilets, medical assistance and food at the site. Displaced families are being shifted to temporary shelters set up in nearby schools."

However, with many residents still cooking in makeshift setups and some hoarding broken gas cylinders, another fire may be waiting to happen.