Around 400 shanties in a slum in Jhut Potti of Mirpur 10 were completely destroyed in a fire yesterday, leaving more than 1,000 people homeless.
The fire broke out around 12 noon and six firefighting units put out the flame after over two and a half hours but almost all their belongings were reduced to ashes by then.
Most of the slum dwellers were low-income people, with the males working as rickshaw-pullers and the females as housemaids or garment workers.
Chan Miah, who is a mason by profession, was crying with a partially burnt bundle of money. He said it was all he had saved, hoping for a better future.
“As soon as I knew about the fire, I returned to the slum but I couldn't save anything. The fire destroyed everything I had,” he said.
Like Chan Miah, several hundred people were wailing as they searched in the ashes for anything that might not have been damaged in the fire.
The shanties in the slum were built primarily of bamboo sticks and sheets of corrugated iron on a wetland where people had been residing in an unhygienic environment.
Abu Saleh, a dweller of the slum, said he did not know the cause of the fire. He also could not say whether anybody had set fire to the slum.
“Immediately after the fire broke out, it engulfed the entire slum in a few minutes,” he said, adding: “I just have saved the lives of my family members.”
Zahirul Amin, deputy director of the Fire Service and Civil Department, said none were hurt in the fire.
“How the fire originated cannot be said without investigation,” he added.
Ziauzzaman, officer-in-charge of Pallabi police station, said they had no information if anybody had set fire to the slum.
