Lucknow: A day after an inferno gutted over 280 shanties in Vikasnagar and rendered more than 1,000 people homeless, scenes of grief unfolded as displaced families returned to the ground that had turned their lives to ashes.With no immediate rehabilitation in sight, survival has overtaken shock. Families who fled flames with nothing but the clothes on their backs are now back amid smouldering debris, attempting to rebuild fragile shelters.Ramesh Yadav, a daily wage labourer, was seen tying a torn blue tarpaulin over a skeletal bamboo frame where his hut once stood. “Everything is gone — utensils, ration, clothes. But where do we go? This is all we have,” he said, as his wife arranged bricks to support a makeshift stove beside the ruins.A few metres away, Shabana and her three children huddled under the open sky. Her youngest, barely four, clung to her dupatta as the night chill set in. “We didn’t even get time to save our documents. My husband works in a nearby factory. We cannot afford rent elsewhere,” she said.In another corner, Ram Kishan and Savitri sat silently beside the blackened remains of their hut. “We built this over 20 years. In one hour, it vanished,” said Ram Kishan.Children stayed close to their parents as darkness fell. Some cried through the night, frightened by memories of the flames. Others sat quietly, clutching half-burnt school bags and broken toys recovered from the debris.Sunita, a domestic worker, tried to console her two daughters as they refused to sleep. “They keep asking if the fire will come again,” she said.While some families managed to secure tarpaulin sheets distributed by local volunteers, many spent the night completely exposed. A few used sarees and old bedsheets tied to sticks to shield themselves from the cold breeze.Rajesh, a tea-stall vendor who used to run a small kiosk near Tedhipulia in Jankipuram, now sits beside a heap of burnt utensils. “My entire stall is gone. I used to earn just enough to feed my family daily. Now I don’t even have money to restart,” he said.Similarly, Guddu, who sold snacks and cigarettes from a roadside kiosk near Tedhipulia crossing, spent the night under a torn tarpaulin. “Police won’t allow us to just set up again without materials. And even if they do, where will I get money from?” he asked.For women working as domestic helps in nearby residential colonies of Jankipuram and Vikasnagar, the situation is equally dire.Rekha, who works in three households as a maid, lost all her belongings, including clothes and identity documents. “I have to report for work in the morning, but I have nothing to wear, nowhere to bathe. How do I go?”, she said.Another domestic worker, Shabnam, said she fears losing her job altogether. “If I don’t go for a few days, they might replace me. But I can’t leave my children alone here at night,” she said.
