WAS IT an accidental fire or “sabotage” to avoid giving huge prizes in lucky draws? This is the question being hotly debated in Meerut after the city counted nearly 100 deaths in the Mela inferno at Victoria Park on Monday. Not ruling out the possibility of sabotage, leader of the Teachers' Group In Vidhan Parishad Om Prakash Sharma accused the local police of removing the evidence of the death of a large number of people.
He said the lottery draws were to be taken out at 6 pm and fire engulfed the three pandals at 5.15 pm. While demanding a judicial probe by a sitting High Court judge, Sharma said this point should be included in the investigation.
Talking to Hindustan Timers on the phone from Meerut on Tuesday, Sharma said the police had not been registering the report of “missing” people.
Demanding survey of the families in the city, Sharma said during nightlong operation, the police removed heaps of burnt garbage from the site and dumped it on Mawana Road. He said bodies, which had virtually turned into ashes, had also been removed along with the garbage.
Expressing concern over the police callousness in tackling the crisis, Sharma said a large number of families had been making desperate attempts to trace the missing relatives, but the police had not been registering the complaints.
Sharma said while cops from the adjacent Police Lines failed to react to calamity and help in rescuing the trapped people, some boys who were playing cricket at the same place broke open the pandal from one side to provide another escape route for the victims.
He said just one fire brigade was available to control the devastating fire. While the police were not seen at the spot, the people from the adjoining localities rushed to evict the people from the blaze. He said entire synthetic pandal collapsed within no time leaving only huge iron bar structure. He said bulldozers were used throughout the night to remove the garbage.
{{/usCountry}}He said just one fire brigade was available to control the devastating fire. While the police were not seen at the spot, the people from the adjoining localities rushed to evict the people from the blaze. He said entire synthetic pandal collapsed within no time leaving only huge iron bar structure. He said bulldozers were used throughout the night to remove the garbage.
{{/usCountry}}Sharma said the government should impose complete ban on use of synthetic material for pandals and missing persons should be counted as dead. He said survey of the families had become necessary as in some cases entire family had been wiped out. He has also demanded compensation from the multinational companies, which had put up stalls at the consumer show. The organizers-Mirnal Events- were untraced.