Nearly 30 people were rendered homeless after a tree fell and destroyed seven shanties on the Peshwa Road in Mandir Marg area in New Delhi in the wee hours of Wednesday. In the mishap, three people received minor injuries, including a two-and-a-half-year old hearing impaired girl.
According to the fire department officials, the incident was reported around 5.10 am on the Peshwa road in Mandir Marg.
Inhabited by small time labourers and part time domestic helps, hailing from Madhya Pradesh, the local residents said that the tree, infected with insects, fell on their shanties. At least seven families were trapped until the neighbours raised an alarm and informed the Delhi Fire Services and the Delhi Police.
Talking to The Pioneer, 28-year-old Sushma Rekwal, said, “At first, I felt that there was an earthquake. I was sleeping at my home with my husband Narender (30) and son Ankit (8). We heard the roof of the house falling on us. Horrified, I screamed at my husband to take out Ankit safely.”
locals helped the officials in rescuring the injured people. A lot of crowd gathered near the place of tree collapse and within half an hour, everyone with the help of flashlights in their mobile phones started rescuing the trapped people.
“We are lucky that we are alive. We somehow managed to escape. But we have lost all our valuables,” added Sushma.
Few hutments away from the ruins of Sushma’s house was Raju, a 35-year-old small time labourer told the Pioneer that it was his family which sustained grievous injuries.
While his wife Geeta (28) and son Karan (4) are admitted in the RMl Hospital, his 2-year-old daughter Pranshi, who was born hearing impaired, has received minor head injuries. luckily, his six-month-old daughter Shivanya escaped unhurt.
“We were sleeping when the tree fell on our house. There was a loud thud and the roof fell on us,” said Raju.
Unable to speak or listen, Pranshi resisted the attempts by outsiders to help her and cling to her father. Narbad, an eyewitness said that Pranshi stuck to her father in a state of fear.
Majority of the population in the shanties are from Madhya Pradesh.
Men mostly work as labourers and women work as maids.
Jyoti, a 17-year-old said, “This is not the first time that a tree fell on the house. 2 years back, a big tree, infested with insects fell on my house. luckily, I and my family managed to escape unhurt,.”