Meerut People Demand Action
People in Meerut blamed the administration for a lack of safety measures at the electronics goods fair, where some 2,000 people were gathered when the fire broke out on Monday.
Witnesses and officials said a short-circuit caused the fire, which spread rapidly to polythene sheets covering a temporary enclosure where air conditioners, television sets and other home appliances were on display.
Hundreds of people rushed along a corridor towards a single exit in the long, tented structure. The blaze soon engulfed two neighbouring tents.
"There was nobody to help us when we were ferrying victims. People did everything on their own. And how could they hold such a big event without a fire brigade stationed there?" said resident Puneet Agarwal.
Police said they had found 51 bodies at the fair ground, but residents and a local politician said the toll was likely to be much higher.
Anxious relatives thronged hospitals to look for loved ones, many angry at the lack of facilities in the poorly equipped medical centres.
"We've checked all hospitals and the mortuary," said Manu Sharma, who was looking for his friend's wife. "We have not found her."
Local traders called for a strike on Tuesday in Meerut, which is about 80 km (50 miles) from New Delhi, to protest against what they said was the district administration's negligence.
"The first fire brigade reached half an hour after the tragedy," said Laxmikant Vajpayee, a local opposition legislator.
"This is gross negligence of the administration. The toll will definitely cross 100 after the information on missing persons is tallied. The figures given by the administration are wrong," Vajpayee told reporters.
Consumer fairs are increasingly popular in India's smaller cities and towns as fast economic growth has sharply increased disposable income over the last decade.
But safety procedures are still ignored in many aspects of public life. Ninety children died in a fire at a school in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in July 2004.
By Shailendra Bhatnagar
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