Fire guts 20 huts in MKB Nagar; homeless families seek aid, housing
CHENNAI: Kanaga B, 48, is homeless and burdened with debt, as she has lost not only her house, but also Rs 50,000 in cash that she had borrowed at a steep 15% interest. She is one among the many families whose lives and livelihoods have been affected by the fire that swept through Sathiya Murthy Nagar Main Road in MKB Nagar on Monday evening.
Kanaga, who lives alone in a makeshift house and earns a living by selling appalam, pickles, and semiya (vermicelli) on city streets, had returned from work at a wedding hall to find her home engulfed in flames. The fire, reportedly triggered by an electrical short circuit in one of the huts, rapidly spread through the densely packed settlement, gutting at least 20 huts.
'All I had is gone - clothes, appliances, vessels, and the money I borrowed just a few days ago. I don't know how to repay the debt now,' said Kanaga, speaking from a government school in Udhayasuriyan Nagar where she has taken temporary shelter along with other victims.
Every day, Kanaga would walk to the wholesale markets in Parrys Corner near Broadway, purchase a jute bag of appalam, or semiya, and sell them on foot in the streets. A single bag of ragi semiya costs her around Rs 1,600, for which she needed loans. 'The money burnt along with the appalam I had bought for selling,' she told TNIE.
The hutment stood on a private piece of land that was occupied 18 years ago. While officials said that the land had been encroached by families, residents had requested Tamil Nadu Urban Habitat Development Board houses.
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