The Hindu : Over 300 huts destroyed in Nandanam fire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 05, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai

Over 300 huts destroyed in Nandanam fire

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JULY 4. Over 300 huts were gutted and property of slum dwellers destroyed in a major fire accident at Nandanam this morning. Fire service personnel contained the flames in a two-hour operation. The fire service and police personnel faced several tense moments as there was a possibility of the fire spreading to an adjacent petrol outlet. However, the fire did not spread to the petrol outlet.

The fire which started around 9-30 this morning spread rapidly aided by strong winds and engulfed the slum colony. As fire tenders used for putting out the flames were stationed on one side of Anna Salai and also around the petrol bunk as a precautionary measure, traffic was disrupted on the arterial road. A turn table ladder was also pressed into service.

The unavoidable traffic diversion because of the fire accident caused severe hardship to motorists, throwing peak hour traffic out of gear. Vehicles were seen piling up near Gemini Flyover and other important intersections along Anna Salai because of the diversion. Bus commuters were the worst affected as MTC services were also diverted.

The slum dwellers were yet to come to terms with their tragedy. For most of them their lifetime savings were reduced to ashes. Televison sets and electronic equipment were seen completely gutted in several huts.

During the fire accident several gas cylinders burst, eyewitnesses said. Many slum dwellers had gas connections in their homes. The fire fighting operation was co-ordinated by the Director of Fire Service, S.K.Dogra, the Deputy Director V.Ananthasekar and the Divisional Fire Officer N.Jeevanandam.

Senior police officials including the DCP (Traffic) Karuna Sagar and DCP (T.Nagar) K.P.Shanmugharajeswaran co-ordinated with the fire service personnel.

The PWD minister, Dalavai Sundaram, the Deputy Mayor, `Karate' Thiagarajan, former Mayor M.K.Stalin (in whose Assembly constituency the slum is located) visited the spot and consoled the victims. The Chennai Corporation has arranged food and relief measures for the affected families.

The All India Radio's FM service frequently announced the road block on Thursday morning, asking motorists to avoid Nandanam.

Relief distributed

Mr. Sundaram later distributed relief materials including Rs. 1,000 cash, a dhoti, a sari and five kilos of rice to each of the affected families. The Chennai Corporation said that 425 huts were destroyed in the fire which affected 850 families.

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