The Hindu : Front Page : 1,000 thatched houses gutted in Guntur

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Saturday, Jul 22, 2006

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1,000 thatched houses gutted in Guntur

Staff Reporter

No casualties in major fire; temporary shelters constructed

INFERNO: Fire Department personnel putting out the fire at Swarnabharati Nagar in Guntur on Friday. — Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

GUNTUR: About 1,000 huts were destroyed at Swarnabharati Nagar in Guntur in a major fire on Friday afternoon, but there were no casualties as a majority of the residents were away on work.

According to eyewitnesses, fire broke out at 12.40 p.m. in a thatched house on the 10th link road of 27th lane in `C' Block of Swarnabharati Nagar, a re-settlement colony for the urban poor. District Fire Officer N. Mohan Rao immediately rushed all the three fire engines in the city to the site and called for a fourth one from Sattenaplli. Gusty winds under overcast conditions, however, helped the fire spread fast from one lane to another giving literally no time to the residents to bring out their belongings from their thatched houses. Only 10 per cent of the residents who were present at the time removed whatever they could from the huts which did not catch fire while some youths did their best to bring water and pour over thatched roofs.

Within 20 minutes fire spread from Swarnabharati Nagar to Krishna Tulasi Nagar, close to the JKC College main road leading to Adavithakellapadu village. Pregnant women and old people, who were at home, helplessly watched their belongings going up in flames. Looting was witnessed on a large scale even as the fire was spreading.

The Department of Fire used 10 water tankers of some educational institutions and private water suppliers to augment the fire-fighting capacity.

New dwellings for victims

According to a report from Hyderabad, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who is in Thiruvananthapuram attending a southern Chief Ministers' meeting, said that new dwellings would be built for those who lost their huts in the fire. A pressnote issued by the Chief Minister's Office said that Dr. Reddy had directed the Collector to provide drinking water and medicines to the affected persons. He asked Transport Minister K. Lakshminarayana to arrange for relief and rehabilitation of the victims.

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