NEW DELHI: A fire broke out at the Mansa Ram Park shanties near the Matiala fish market in southwest Delhi’s Uttam Nagar on Wednesday night, gutting several jhuggis in the early hours of Thursday. No casualties were reported, police said.According to police, a PCR call about a major blaze at the shanty cluster in Mansa Ram Park was received at Bindapur police station around 11.57pm on Wednesday. Police teams rushed to the spot and evacuated residents from the huts as the fire spread rapidly through the settlement.Delhi Fire Service (DFS) was alerted and around 28 fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. Officials said the firefighting operation continued for several hours before the blaze was finally brought under control around 3am on Thursday.Authorities said several shanties were damaged or destroyed in the fire.Police also noted that a fire had broken out at the same location earlier this month. On Mar 7, police had received a PCR call regarding a blaze at the site, which was extinguished with the help of eight fire tenders. No injuries were reported in that incident either. A case was registered at Bindapur police station under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in connection with the earlier fire.The land where the shanties stand is privately owned, though its ownership is currently under dispute, police said, adding that there had been multiple complaints in the past about illegal garbage dumping at the site and instances of waste being set on fire.A debris removal drive had been scheduled at the location on Mar 7 by the Kapashera district administration but had to be postponed due to logistical issues.The exact cause of Wednesday night’s fire is yet to be ascertained.
