Where are clothes meant for fire victims off to?

A Khar residents' group photographed a truck full of old clothes speeding away from Garib Nagar. They now wonder if their aid is even reaching the affected

Where are clothes meant for fire victims off to?

A Khar residents' group photographed a truck full of old clothes speeding away from Garib Nagar. They now wonder if their aid is even reaching the affected

As Mumbaikars did their bit for the victims of the Garib Nagar inferno donating old clothes to slum dwellers who lost everything to the flames one odd incident has cast a long shadow of doubt on whether their help is going where it should.

Members of a Khar-based ALM spottedu00a0a vehicle speeding away with bundles of hand-me-downs meant for Garib Nagar stashed in it

Members of an Advanced Locality Management (ALM) from 33rd Road, Khar who initiated a clothes donation drive for the fire victims witnessed, and photographed, the bundles of hand-me-downs being loaded into a truck at Garib Nagar and led away.u00a0

Is the Mumbaikars' bounty for the indigents of Garib Nagar being diverted to a secondhand, wholesale apparel market for commercial gains, they wonder.

The drive

"On the very day the news of the fire broke out, we started sending bulk text messages to the residents of H-West ward (Bandra to Santacruz region) to come forward and donate their used clothes for the victims," said ALM Secretary Aftab Siddique.

The affluent in the city responded by sending in huge quantities of their branded clothes.

"The first batch was dispatched the very next day directly to the site. But we were anxious to know whether the help was being put to good use," said Siddique.

Deviant image

So the ALM members reached Garib Nagar. That's when the shocker came. "It was disheartening enough to see heaps of clothes lying carelessly on the road. What's more, a truck heaped with the swaddles of clothes was pulling away from the site. It sped away before we could stop it," said Siddique.

Volunteer Rizwan Behlin, who had the presence of mind to capture the incident on his cellphone camera, said that it left them disabused.

Another volunteer, Niaz Siddique, said that the ALM now had their office overflowing with a second lot of donated clothes.

But they have decided not to dispatch them to Garib Nagar until they are sure the help is not being misdirected: exploited by astute elements extracting the most out of the calamity.

"We have put the clothes on hold till we are assured by some agency that the gifted items will be utilised for the purpose they are donated for," Niaz said, adding, "We have actually told members to stop sending us clothes till the issue is resolved."

Ground Reality

Kadir Khan (name changed on request), a resident of Garib Nagar, opined that the decision by the state government to give victims a compensation of Rs 25,000 would be of no use as it would only benefit landlords, who are not poor by any standards.

"More than 80 per cent of the property had been sublet to tenants illegally, without any paperwork or records. These are the people, who will end up with no compensation whatsoever.

A 10x10 hut in this area fetches a rent of over Rs 5,000 per month and landlords make up to Rs 50,000 a monthu00a0tax free and in cash. So you can work out the math yourself," said Khan.

He further alleged that the situation was so sensitive that the land mafia would not spare any one who pointed this out to authorities.

"Jisne bhi ungli uthai, woh marega," he said.