Thirty fire tenders worked for about three hours to douse the blaze, suspected to be caused by a fire lit by slum dwellers near Lahori gate to fight the chilly weather.

Seven people were charred to death and almost all the three hundred huts were completely gutted in the fire," R C Sharma, chief fire officer said.

Ten people were injured, some of them seriously, he said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (north) Devesh Shrivastava said the bodies of the seven persons were badly burnt and the process is on to ascertain the identity of the victims.

There are about 800 people living in the slum cluster.

The flames were reported at around 02:45 am and fire officials who rushed to the spot initially feared the blaze would spread to shops adjoining the slum clusters.

"Our first concern was to ensure that the fire does not spread through the adjoining shops and we managed to do it," a senior fire brigade officer said.