Around one thousand people who lost all they had in the fire that razed a cluster of slums in the capital early Sunday have been passing their days in the open as they are waiting with their families for government relief.
At least 11 people were killed and 25 injured in the fire at Baubazar of Hazaribagh in old town of the city.
Most of the people did not get the Tk 3,000 the government allocated for the victims on the day for their rehabilitation, the slum dwellers told New Age.
The local leaders of the Awami League, who prepared the list of the affected people, were manipulating the list and put the names of their favoured people, who did not live in the slum, alleged the affected people.
Local people and the slum dwellers told New Age that about one thousand people were affected by the fire but the Awami League men said they had prepared a list of 900 people.
Selim Ahmed, Awami League president of Ward 14, said they had prepared a list of 900 affected people till Monday and distributed the allocated money and rice to 650 people on Sunday.
They also collected names through their volunteers from the scene and were distributing tokens among the people, he said.
He also denied the allegation of manipulating the list of affected people and said some people did not get the allocated money because they were not at the scene when they prepared the list.
‘Today (Monday) we were reshuffling the list,’ he said.
Jewel Hossain, a car driver, who lived in one of the slums with his two children and wife, said they got khechuri (hotchpotch) for one meal on Sunday and Monday.
‘We’ve got a token Monday noon but Tk 3,000 is not enough because we have lost all our belongings in the fire and are passing our days under open sky,’ said he.
Kamala Begum, a domestic help, said her husband Abul Hossain was injured in the fire but they did not get the token as her husband was shifted to a relative’s house for treatment.
Some of the slum dwellers complained to local Awami League leaders that they had not got their tokens.
Selim Ahmed said they had handed over the tokens to the slum owner and told the victims to collect the tokens from their slum owner.
Families of those killed in the fire have got the compensation of Tk 20,000 from the government.
All the wounded but four who are admitted to the burn and plastic surgery unit at Dhaka Medical College Hospital were discharged after treatment.
More than one thousand people lost all their belongings in the fire that was put out after four and a half hours’ efforts. The flame burnt about 700 shanties, 25 shops, and four rickshaw garages.
The government has allocated Tk 1 crore for food, living and rehabilitation of the victim families.