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| Uphaar: A man-made tragedy? |
| The cause of the disaster was a transformer outside the cinema that caught fire. But what sealed the fate of the audience in the balcony was the fact
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| INDIA
, 5-September-2007
2:1:2 AM |
| It was meant to be a routine movie screening. But within some time, a packed hall turned into an inferno with the exteriors of the Uphaar Cinema on fire and the insides turned into a virtual gas chamber.
As the fire spread, hundreds of people sitting in the lower stands of the hall made it safely out of the cinema but several others in the upper stands were trapped as the only exit had been locked from outside.
''I was with my husband and daughter. Smoke started coming inside and it became pitch dark. We couldn't see even our own hands. Everyone was shouting and crying for help. I lost track of my husband. I fainted and when gained consciousness I was at AIIMS,'' said Kawal Bhalla, widow of victim.
The seven exits downstairs saved hundreds. But 300 people upstairs were trapped. The only exit was bolted from outside and it took more than 20 minutes to break down the door. 59 people died on the spot, all from asyphixia.
The cause of the disaster was a transformer outside the cinema that caught fire. But what sealed the fate of the audience in the balcony was the fact that every rule in the book had apparently been broken by the builders- the Ansals.
The emergency lights weren't working and the smoke made it impossible to find the exit.
Two exits and two aisles had been blocked to add an extra 40 seats. This left just one exit at the extreme left with only one possible route of getting to it. People on the right thus stood little chance of escaping it.
But it wasn't just the Ansals who seem to have violated safety laws. In December, NDTV's exclusive report showed that the Ansals had been fighting since the 70s to alter the theatre's legal plans.
The builders even took the matter to the High Court but were opposed by a man, Amod Kanth who was then the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of licensing.
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