Around 117 Hindu Pakistani migrant families lost an estimated Rs 16 lakh in cash in both old and new currency in a fire in North Delhi's Majnu ka Tila area. The amount was lost when 28 shanties were gutted in a fire on November 27.
"As much as Rs 16 lakh cash was charred into ashes in this fire," claims Roop Chand, the in-charge of the settlement.
Sona Das, 45, belongs to one of the families who have lost everything. Sitting in a makeshift shanty, Das is praying for divine intervention so that he could arrange his daughter's wedding scheduled for next year.
"I had saved Rs 1.5 lakh in cash in the past three years for my daughter's wedding. That was my only possession and it was charred into ashes in the fire," he said.
On Sunday afternoon, Das, along with his family, went to have langar (feast) in a nearby Gurudwara only to come back to see his shanty burning. "It was a dreadful sight to see your life-long hard work turning into ash," he said.
Das makes ends meet by selling mobile covers and screen guards near Vishwavidhalaya Metro station.
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of two high denomination notes, Sonadas and his son had queued up outside banks in shifts to get their money exchanged. "I took ten days to exchange our savings using our passports as the identity card. All our efforts have gone in vain," he said.
Sona Das is not the only one who lost everything. His neighbour Shankar Lal, 30, whose shanty was also gutted down in the fire, pulled out cloth having burnt notes wrapped in it.
"I went to exchange four Rs 500 notes left on me to a bank when this happened. It took me more than one week to exchange these 30,000 rupees that are now equal to burnt papers in value," said Lal, who lives there with his wife and a 10-month-old son.
The families' plight is made worse by the fact that many of them do not have bank accounts. Roop Chand is among those few persons here who does.
"Most of the people living here do not have bank accounts and keep their savings in cash. Soon after the present government had announced Aadhaar cards mandatory for everyone to obtain bank accounts, we started a drive to encourage people to get themselves the unique identity cards," he said.
He added that most of the people, who had applied for the cards recently, had not yet received them.
The residents are now waiting for some compensation from the government as most of them are buying stuff on credit. "Most of us have been buying groceries from the nearby shops on credits. We have no idea how will we return the money," said Das.
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