100 shanties gutted in New Town's Majherpara

At least 100 shanties were gutted after a fire broke out at New Town's Majherpara area on Sunday night. Police said the slums were completely reduced to ashes due to the fire. Locals alleged that the slum dwellers had stock-piled plastics, papers, clothes and other inflammable materials that caused the incident. A few LPG cylinders were also kept in the shanties.

"There was no casualty as the fire brigade and police reached there on time and those trapped were successfully moved out. But the situation could have turned worse if there would have been elderly people or women or even children confined there," said a police source.

"It was at around 1 am when I saw the fire in the slum. I called up the police and the fire brigade. But they said they already knew about it and were rushiong to the spot at the earliest. The locals helped the fire fighters and probably every slum-dweller was rescued," said an eye witness.

Police informed that as many as seven fire tenders had rushed to the spot and they managed to douse the flames by 4.30 am on Monday. The local Councillor has assured all help to the slum dwellers as after the fire, around 70 families have become homeless, a local resident added.

Meanwhile, a forensic team could also be sent there for inspection. They would collect samples and examine the exact cause of fire.

It will be recalled that a charred body of a security guard was found at New Town few weeks ago. The person died there while he was trying to extinguish fire at a shop in front of an information technology company office. Later police found that those shops had stocked LPG cylinders to cook food.