Delhi: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced an ex-gratia for families of seven people who were killed in a fire that broke out in the shanties of the Gokulpuri area in the national capital. Kejriwal today visited the site where the blaze broke out last night. “I am saddened by the fire incident in which seven people died. The poor make their shelters after a lot of hard work. The Delhi Government will give Rs 10 lakh each to deceased adults’ families, Rs 5 lakh to deceased children’s families and Rs 25,000 to those whose shanties were burnt,” Kejriwal said.
Delhi Police informed that a forensics team has been rushed to the mishap site to conduct tests to ascertain the cause of the fire. “As many as 60 shanties were also completely burnt. We are yet to know the reasons behind the fire,” Chief of the Delhi Fire Services Atul Garg said. Delhi Police today morning informed that about 30 shanties had burnt down and seven people lost their lives after a fire broke out in the Gokulpuri area.
Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of North East Delhi, Devesh Kumar Pandey said, “At 1 AM today, there was a fire incident reported in Gokulpuri Police Station area. Immediately after gathering information, our teams reached the spot with all the rescue equipment. We also contacted the Fire Department which responded very well. We all managed to douse the fire by around 4 am.” “…30 shanties have been burned down and seven people lost their lives,” he added.
Delhi Fire Service department informed on Saturday that the fire was brought under control on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Seven bodies have been retrieved from the site of the incident. The department officials further informed that as many as 13 fire tenders were rushed to the site after gathering information about the incident. Further probe in the matter is underway.