Lucknow: Bodies of two sisters, a toddler and an infant, were recovered on Thursday morning after a massive fire gutted over 280 shanties and rendered more than 1,000 people homeless in Sector 11 of Vikas Nagar on Wednesday evening.The deceased were identified as Shruti (2) and her two-month-old sister, Sweety, daughters of Satish, a rag-picker from Kashipurwa village in Barabanki. Satish and his wife, Poonam, had frantically searched for their daughters through the night but could not find them anywhere.According to police, the bodies were found buried under debris when search teams resumed combing operations on Thursday morning after the blaze was brought under control late Wednesday night. DCP (East) Deeksha Sharma, who remained at the site through the night, confirmed the recovery. Police have sent the bodies for postmortem to ascertain the exact cause of death.“It was during an intensive search at dawn that the charred remains of the two minors were found. It appears they were trapped inside their shanty and could not escape the rapidly spreading flames,” she said.Initially, authorities had reported no casualties as most residents managed to flee. However, anxiety mounted overnight after several families reported missing members, prompting a renewed search operation.District magistrate Vishak G Iyer said an ex-gratia of Rs 8 lakh has been provided to the bereaved family. “All necessary arrangements are being made for relief and rehabilitation of affected families,” he said.He added that the land where the shanties stood belongs to the PWD and that a massive exercise involving over 100 revenue officials was undertaken to identify affected families. “After nearly 15 hours of verification, around 260 families were found to be residing on the land,” he said.On Thursday, displaced residents returned to the gutted site, sifting through the ashes to salvage whatever they could. Many refused to leave, even as residents from Vikas Nagar stepped in with food, clothes, and drinking water.Meanwhile, BJP MLA OP Srivastava has written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, seeking urgent relief measures. He has urged immediate financial assistance, free medical care for the injured, temporary shelters with food and water, and special camps for reissuing lost documents. He also called for priority housing under the state’s urban housing scheme for permanent rehabilitation.
