A blaze claimed one life and rendered around 2,500 dwellers homeless on Tuesday afternoon as it reduced a slum to rubble and severely damaged a market in Ultadanga.

Twenty-six fire tenders were called in to battle the blaze for two hours as the entire slum area in Number 4 Basanti Colony — adjacent to platform number four of Bidhan Nagar Road station — comprising over 500 shanties. The flames, leaping up to 35 feet, were checked just before they spread to the P&T Colony and the Reserve Bank of India quarters nearby.

Shyamal Sardar, a 25-year-old van rickshaw-puller, died in the blaze that was probably sparked by a short-circuit and then fuelled by the katatel and country liquor hubs in the Ultadanga slum. The BC Roy Hawkers’ Corner Market next to the slum was also gutted.

According to residents, the fire broke out around 12.30pm and spread rapidly to engulf the entire colony, spread over an area of 1,500mx500m.

“Shob chhai hoye gyalo. (Everything has turned to ashes),” mumbled Malati Nashkar, a vegetable vendor, whose home was reduced to a heap of debris in less than an hour. “I don’t know what to do. We (her family of five) are alive, but where do we live now in these cold winter nights?” she asked, sitting on the pavement with her five-year-old son Babai.

Firefighting began over an hour later, as fire tenders were delayed on the way by roadblocks set up by auto drivers protesting LPG scarcity and then Trinamul Congress activists protesting price rise and political killings.

Eight fire tenders were damaged and four drivers sustained injuries when the mob greeted them with brickbats.

State fire services minister Pratim Chatterjee said: “We are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire. There will be a forensic study. One person was killed and around 15 persons, including nine fire services department personnel, were injured.... The flames spread faster because several LPG cylinders exploded.”

Gopal Bhattacharjee, the director of fire and emergency services, added: “The place was being used to store and sell katatel and country liquor. The highly inflammable articles fuelled the fire.”

With CMC elections around the corner, the razed slum soon became the playing ground of politicians of every hue — the Trinamul Congress, Congress, BJP and the CPM.

Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya bore the brunt of the people’s ire when he arrived around 2.30pm to oversee salvage operations with police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti.

“Mayor hai hai” was the loudest slogan around. “People are hurt and angry because they have lost everything. Their anger is not against me in particular so I am not reading too much into it,” said Bhattacharyya.

According to the mayor, between 400 and 450 shanties were affected by the fire. “The basti had come up in a haphazard way. Almost all of the dwellings were made of plastic and wood. As a result, the fire spread rapidly,” he added.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee arrived around 6.30pm, only to be hounded by cries of “CM go back”.

“Amader shob shesh hoye gyalo, ekhon apni eshechhen? (Everything’s over, now you’ve come?)” demanded the mob, forcing Bhattacharjee to beat a hasty retreat in a huff.

The civic authorities later released Rs 10 lakh for the procurement of blankets, polythene sheets and foodstuff for the shanty dwellers. Two medical camps were set up and relief material reached.