No Fire Safety Norms Allege Numaish Traders; Telangana CMO, KTR Silent

Hyderabad: A major fire gutted more than 130 stalls (unofficial reports point it at 400 though) at the Hyderabad All India Industrial Exhibition (Numaish) on Wednesday night. Fortunately, no loss of life was reported but for a few people who suffered suffocation following smoke inhalation. The Exhibition which is in its 79th year was inaugurated by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and is one of the largest consumer exhibition conducted every year at the Nampally Grounds.

The fire started at around 8.30 pm reportedly due to a short-circuit at a private bank's stall and spread to nearby stalls triggering panic among visitors and causing a stampede in a bid to rush out of the grounds for safety.

Also Read: Fire At Numaish Exhibition In Nampally Hyderabad, Panic Causes Stampede

What’s surprising through is that even hours after the fire accident, neither the Telangana CMO nor the TRS Working President K T Rama Rao have responded or tweeted about the fire accident. It’s another thing that Telangana Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali released a statement that there was no loss of life reported and the standard statement that a thorough inquiry would be conducted into the matter. But what zaps us is a lack of statement from at least KTR who’s most active on social media.

GHMC Commissioner Dana Kishore said the visitors were safely evacuated in a coordinated manner but that was not the case as evidenced in the videos shared on Social Media, which showed people rushing out of the nearest exit gates in panic. Eye-witnesses, most of whom were the traders who suffered heavy loss of property due to fire which were mostly clothes and dry fruits stalls that had turned to ashes. The traders say that the estimated loss could run into crores and many of them had taken loans for business.

The traders are hopeful of the government extending financial compensation to them and they are also yet to receive any communication from the Exhibition Society which has been conducting the exhibition since 1938.

With the number of stalls and visitors increasing by the year, the Society is yet to improve fire safety arrangements. Every inch of space has been occupied with more than 2500 stalls this year and the traders allege that, had the fire tenders reached on time the fire would not have spread. They also said that basic fire safety norms were not in place.

As per reports, the Exhibition Society pays Rs 15,000 per day to avail the services of the Fire Department for the 45 days duration that the exhibition is held.

An estimated Rs 10 lakhs is paid to the Police Department for providing security and to handle emergency situations. As of now, the Fire Department officers will begin the investigation to find the cause of fire and Exhibition Society Secretary B. Surender Reddy will prepare an estimated report of the financial loss incurred due to the fire accident and submit it to the Society President Eatela Rajender.

Also Read: Numaish Exhibition Vendors Demand Compensation From Telangana Govt For Loss Caused By Fire