Eyewitness: Anger after Meerut fire

By Nagendar Sharma
BBC News, Meerut

Many people wandered around the gutted remains

Hours after a devastating fire swept through a trade fair in Meerut in northern India, the city appears unusually calm.

People are going about their lives. A couple of brightly-lit banquet halls hosting weddings gave a deceptive feeling that all was well.

But on reaching the site of Monday's inferno, all such thoughts give way to a horrific sense of reality.

Local residents chanting slogans against the city administration and state government were chased away by heavily armed police, who also asked journalists to leave the scene.

But despite their warning, no one took them seriously.

Anger

Many people wandered around the totally burnt-out tents, where the trade exhibition had taken place.

Can you imagine that a five day fair was organised and not even a single fire truck was stationed there? Local resident In pictures: Meerut fire

Smoke could still be seen rising from the gutted structure and the intense heat from the ground gives one a sense of what may have happened when the fire broke out.

Angry local residents were unsparing in their criticism of the local police and other administrative officials.

"Had the administration taken any preventive steps in advance, people of our town would not have seen such a day," one resident said.

"Can you imagine that a five-day fair was organised and not even a single fire truck was stationed there?"

With no local officials available at the scene, the residents turned their anger on the media and a couple of television cameramen were beaten up.

Missing relatives

Emotional scenes can be witnessed at the city's main hospital.

Relatives looked for the remains of their loved ones

Some of those who had been unable to locate their family members tried to fight back their tears as they looked carefully at the charred bodies laid out in the mortuary.

Many who had gathered outside the hospital's emergency ward were unhappy with the lack of medical facilities.

"Everybody here is corrupt and even senior doctors here ask patients to come to their private clinic instead of the government-run hospital," one person said.

"I do not think these doctors know anything about burn victims."

Political games

As midnight approached, political leaders competed with each other to visit the injured in hospitals and, of course, not miss an opportunity to speak to the many television correspondents waiting for them.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati was among the first major leaders to reach Meerut. She was quick to attack her long-time rival and current chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav.

She demanded "a high level inquiry into the incident to fix responsibility".

Others are waiting for the visit of the chief minister and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi.

In all this, nobody has the time to talk about fire safety.