Zakat Foundation of India to rebuild the Rohingya camp burnt in Delhi fire

By TwoCircles.net, Staff Reporter

New Delhi: On Sunday, April 15, 37-year-old Shabir Alam, a Rohingya, lost everything he had saved in the last five years to the fire in 44 makeshift homes in the Madanpur Khadar area of Delhi.

“The fire started at 3 am in the morning when everyone was asleep,” says Alam. The fire started near the Toilets close to the makeshift mosque. “That time, everyone was running to save their lives. I took my 5 children to safety and when I returned everything was on fire,” he told TwoCircles.net.

[caption id="attachment_422589" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fayaz Ahmed, 31 a hawker who lost his house, utensils, clothes and 80,000 rupees in the fire. (Photo by: Raqib Hameed Naik)[/caption]

Along with Alam, Fayaz Ahmed, 31, a scrap collector had saved 80,000 rupees by toiling hard in last five years. But the fire turned his money into ash.

The fire which started in the early hours of Sunday morning burned 44 shanties made of bamboo and polythene including a makeshift mosque and a madrasa and caused minor burn injuries to two persons.

The camp named “Darul Hijrat” which caught fire was set up by Zakat Foundation of India (ZFI) in 2011 and has the support of UNHCR and was recognized by the Home Minister in Parliament. The Foundation had provided land, building material for homes and funded the school fee of the camp children.

ZFI has decided to rebuild the camp and is accepting the donation.

[caption id="attachment_422587" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Fire affected families inside the temporary shelter. (Photo by: Raqib Hameed Naik)[/caption]

“The work is already in progress. We are making 45 fireproof huts for the affected families. We are putting a concrete foundation and then using iron pillars to make the structures.  It will take at least a month before the victim families can shift back,” Dr.Abdur Rahman, Administrative Officer, ZFI told TwoCircles.net. The donations for this cause can be made here.

The fire affected 44 refugee families consisting of 230 members who mainly work as hawkers, laborers, rickshaw pullers.

Various Non-Government organisations, local community members,  students from Jamia Millia Islamia are continuously helping the victims with food, clothes, and medicine.

The Zakat Foundation of India was established in 1997 as a grassroots level organisation by concerned residents of New Delhi. It is a non-profit organisation which collects and utilizes ‘zakat’ or charity for socially beneficial projects. It runs an orphanage, charitable hospital and provides stipends to widows along with other activities.