Ludhiana, April 20 (IANS) Seven members of a family, comprising five children, were burnt to death in a fire that broke out in their hut in a slum in this Punjab industrial city on Wednesday morning, police said.
One member of the family, who was not in the hut at the time of the incident, has survived.
The cause of the fire could be a fire spark from a nearby massive municipal garbage dump that has been under fire for the past few days, a police official said.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (East) Ludhiana Surinder Singh said they were migrant labourers from Bihar and were sleeping when the incident occurred.
Interacting with family members of martyr Bhagat Singh, including Teji Sandhu, the wife of his nephew, Abhay Sandhu, the Chief Minister assured them that all efforts would be made to get status of the martyr for the legendary hero of Indian freedom struggle, who laid his life at a tender age.
It will impart job-related skills like electrician, welder, fitter, air-conditioning and refrigeration mechanic, information technology, web designing, coding, graphic designing, solar panel technician, junior nurses and hospitality.
Furnishing details, Additional DCP-I (Dwaka), Vikram Singh, said that a call about the robbery incident was received at 6 a.m. Tuesday, in which the caller claimed that four women had robbed him of Rs 2,000 near the Ganda Nala area.
"The office of the Commissioner for NRI Affairs Goa is already in touch with the Consulate General of India, Houston, USA for seeking their assistance for bringing the mortal remains of late John Dias to Goa, so that his family can have the funeral in Goa," he added.
He asked farmers to "fight" to cancel the bail given to Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni's son, Ashish Mishra, who was accused of mowing down four farmers and a journalist with his convoy during the violence.
Of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021, 12 were in India. New Delhi saw a 14.6 per cent increase in PM2.5 concentration in 2021, 96.4 Ig/m3, up from 84 Ig/m3 in 2020.
