Hyderabad slum fire kills seven

Seven people, including four children, were burnt alive as a massive fire gutted about 100 huts of migrant construction workers on the outskirts of Hyderabad on Saturday.

The fire broke out at Gundlapochampally village in Ranga Reddy district, about 10 km north of Hyderabad, after a cooking gas cylinder exploded, the police said.

Before the fire tenders reached the place, the shanties were reduced to ashes, along with nearly all the belongings of over a hundred families.

Most men and women workers of the makeshift colony, who were working on a housing project, were away at work, while the old and children were at home at the time of the accident.

Some workers, however, alleged that miscreants set fire to the slum cluster to forcefully vacate the land vacated for real estate development.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy ordered a probe into the incident and asked district collector V Seshadri to extend help to the victims and displaced families.

State home minister P Sabith Indira Reddy, who is also the district minister, visited the area and said the government would arrange the rehabilitation of the displaced families.

She announced compensation of Rs 5,000, 20 kg rice and kerosene for each of the displaced families.

Reddy also said that a case will be registered against the company that had hired the labourers.

Around 500 labourers from Bihar, West Bengal and Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh live in the huts in the area.