City residents question UT Admn’s negligence

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 20

A day after scores of people were mowed down by a train during the Dasehra celebrations in Amritsar, residents of Sector 46, Chandigarh, have questioned the Administration for being negligent towards the sudden blazing of three effigies at the Dasehra ground on Friday. 

Residents whined that the Administration should keep a vigil on the material used for constructing effigies for Dasehra to avoid mishap.

Surinder Kaur (60), a resident of Sector 46, said: “Sudden explosion from the effigies triggered panic. We immediately evacuated the place. Many people came on the road and could have mowed down by vehicles.”

Sunita, another resident, said: “We were on our terrace when it happened. We could feel the heat from the flames even while sitting at our home. Had there been a major fire break out, the residential area would have also suffered. The Administration or the Municipal Corporation should not allocate land for the Dasehra celebrations near the residential areas.”

The effigies were supposed to be set ablaze in parts through a remote control. However, the last minute technical glitch led to manual blazing of the effigies. In seconds, the effigies went up in flames. This created panic among the onlookers and residents. People who were close to the blazing effigies also fell off.

When asked Sanjay Beniwal, DGP UT, who was the chief guest on the occasion, about the incident, he said such issues were looked up by the licensing authorities. 

Jatinder Bhatia, president of the Shri Sanatan Dharam Dasehra Committee, Sector 46, said: “We have to seek permission from the administration, Municipal Corporation and the Mandi Board for organising Dasehra. They sometimes inspect the arrangements as per the guidelines. However, no check on effigies was made. We have been organising Dasehra for six years and we have been using similar material. There was no change in the quality of materials used in making the effigies.”

Meanwhile, Sachin Rana, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said: “There is a standard protocol for organising such celebrations. The organisers of the Ramlila committees have to approach us and disclose the tentative gathering and according to this, under the disaster management and various rules, the departments concerned are aligned. The organiser has to submit an application to the police, traffic, Municipal Corporation and the fire department. But, they did not approach us on time. We allow the organisers only after getting an NOC from other departments.”

He said: “We had to clear three applications at 3 pm yesterday as there was some political influence as well.”