Two houses were gutted and 12 persons, including a month-old infant, were displaced today when a fire engulfed their dwelling in Laban here.
By the time two fire engines arrived at the scene, 40 minutes had passed and the houses were gutted, leaving the two families homeless and traumatised.
Gauri Das and Sujata Thapa lost all their possessions in the fire that gutted their Assam-type rented house near Laban Bengalee Girls’ Higher Secondary School, a few yards from Laban police station, on Sunday evening.
Das and Thapa are now trying to figure out a way to cope with the loss even as well-wishers in the dozens from around the neighbourhood reached out to them in their moment of agony.
Das noticed the fire, which may have been due to a short circuit, when she was busy attending to guests on the otherwise quiet Sunday evening. Thapa and her family members were in church at the time.
“We ran out of the house. We could not save anything. There was a laptop and some cash too. Everything is gone,” Das said.
Thapa choked as she talked about the fire. She was a tenant in the house for the last three years and stayed with her mother and daughter.
Das lived with her husband, Bipul Das, who is a former employee of the Survey of India. Her younger daughter was also with her. They shifted to the house five years ago after Bipul’s retirement.
House owner Bijoya Wahlang was lost for words at the sudden fire that almost engulfed her house that is located adjacent. Visibly distraught at the incident, she is now wondering how to make both ends meet.
“This is my only source of income and they are very good tenants. I’m so broken at how to help them and what do I do now onwards,” Wahlang said, adding, “Today, one family will stay with their relatives and the other will stay with me here. We’ll manage somehow.”
The Red Cross Society, upon being alerted by a concerned citizen, rushed to the spot and brought in relief materials for the two affected households.
Red Cross volunteers helped with items such as blankets, utensils, buckets and tarpaulins that should aid them until more relief comes from the government.
