3 fire incidents in city, no casualties

Three fire incidents were on Monday reported in the national Capital, including one at an ashram of ‘godman’ Chandraswami’s in South Delhi’s Qutub Institutional Area.

However, no casualties were reported in the three mishaps, a Delhi Fire Department official said.

Hundreds of houses and shops were gutted in a major fire that broke out early on Monday in a slum cluster in outer Delhi’s Mongolpuri area.

According to Delhi Fire Service, the fire was reported around 2 am and as many as 28 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire was doused around 7 am, after which a cooling operation was launched.

The fire is believed to have originated from a plastic waste dump yard adjacent to the slum cluster at UT block in Mongolpuri, which is inhabited by around 300 families.

The situation turned worse when several LPG cylinders exploded after three re-fill shops inside the cluster went up in flames, said a police official.

Meanwhile, the Delhi government announced a compensation of Rs 25,000 for each household affected by the fire.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal visited the fire-ravaged site during the day and met the families whose houses were gutted. He also urged AAP volunteers to assist the victims, which include a large number of children. The compensation offered to the victims of such fires have been significantly enhanced to Rs 25,000, from the earlier amount of Rs 5,000 as per Kejriwal’s orders, a government official said.

In the second incident, at around 3 pm, fire was reported from Chandraswami’s ashram, after which three fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire, suspected to have originated from a short circuit, broke out on the third floor of Chandraswami’s building, which houses the main office of the tantra practitioner.

In a separate incident, a fire broke out at a shoe factory in outer Delhi’s Narela industrial area around 2 pm.

Six fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire was doused at 3.20 pm, after which a cooling operation was launched, said the fire official. “No casualties or major injuries were reported in any of the cases,” the official added.