Meerut prayers for missing
fire victims
by Sudhakar
Meerut:
When Amit Kumar saw a photo of his injured wife, a day
after they were caught in a deadly fire at a consumer fair
in Meerut, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he would
soon find her. But it has been three days since the tragedy
took place and Kumar is yet to find her despite a frantic
search from one nursing home to another. Kumar even visited
New Delhi, where many of the injured were transferred, but
to no avail. Moreover, Kumar is yet to receive any concrete
help from the administration. "After realising the intensity
of the fire, I told my wife to run as I was already at a
safe distance. I presumed she was following me. But I think
she got caught in the melee. However, in the photo, it's
very clear. She has only 20 percent burns. Among the people
who are lifting her, is a police constable and she was put
inside a police jeep," said Kumar. But police officials
said they would do their best to locate all missing persons.
"We are definitely going to try more than our best to trace
any missing. They are bound to be getting treatment somewhere
in some hospital and we will find them," said Navneet Sikera,
Senior Superintendent of Police, Meerut.
Dozens
of distraught relatives are pleading authorities to help
find their loved ones who went missing in Monday's blaze
who are neither among the 36 confirmed dead nor in the official
list of missing people. More than 25 people, locals said,
have vanished as their relatives failed to trace them at
any of the town's hospitals, mortuaries or graveyards. On
Wednesday, dozens of protesters ransacked the office of
District Magistrate, protesting against an alleged attempt
to cover up the death toll. Authorities had initially said
51 people died in the fire that engulfed aircraft hanger-shaped
temporary halls covered with plastic sheeting where around
2,000 people were browsing displays. But on Tuesday, officials
revised the death toll down to 35, and on Wednesday added
another victim who died in hospital. The moves triggered
protests by people who said they were still looking for
missing relatives, their anger fuelled by claims that bodies
were run over by bulldozers in the aftermath of the blaze,
and that some corpses were secretly cremated to scale down
the disaster. The district administration strongly denied
the accusations but officials gave widely conflicting accounts
of the number of people still officially "missing". Meanwhile,
traders at the Victoria Park, the venue of the fair, organized
prayers for the peace of the departed souls. "There were
some victims for whom the last rites could not be performed.
We have organized these prayers for the peace of their souls.
We are also keen to provide whatever help we can and if
we get any call, we are ready to donate our blood also,"
said Pawan Kumar Garg, Chairman of the traders association.
Meerut
fire: A brave boy meets his end