Uphaar tragedy: A little slip that cost 59 lives

NEW DELHI: Had the three men who had gone down to the basement of Uphaar cinema to repair the sparking transformer, used the crimping machine to fasten the loose live ends, the blaze might have been averted.
On June 13, 1997 morning, three DVB officials — A K Gera, Bir Singh and B M Satija (now deceased) — had gone down to repair the sparking transformer.Instead of fastening the loose live ends with the crimping machine, they just twisted them loosely. The sparks erupted again in the evening, setting the whole transformer ablaze.
Ghera and Singh are being tried under section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 337 (causing hurt by omission, endangering life and safety) and 338 (causing grievous hurt) of Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused Shyam Sunder Sharma and N D Tiwari, both administrative officers of the Delhi Municipal Corporation (MCD), had allegedly issued the no-objection certificate (NoC) for running the cinema during years 1995-86 and 1996-97 in violation of Delhi Cinematograpgic Rules.
Only the officer of rank of Executive Engineer can sign the NoC. H S Panwar and S D Sharma, Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officials, had issued the NoC without physically inspecting the cinema building.
The latest NoC was issued exactly a month before the tragedy, which said all fire fighting equipment and means of escape were in place. While in reality, no trained person was present to operate them, emergency lights were out of order for 3 months and public address system for one year.
The accused S N Dandona (now deceased), executive engineer of Public Works Department, had allegedly granted permission to build an 8-seater box, which resulted in closure of the only exit on the right side. Dandona also allegedly allowed the additional 15 seats which resulted in narrowing of the gangway in violation of Delhi Cinematographic Rules.
Balcony usher Manmohan Unniyal, also an accused, literally sealed the fate of audience inside by bolting the massive exit door from outside during the show and going away. Uphaar director R M Puri, managers Radha Krishan Sharma, Nirmal Singh Chopra and Ajit Chaudhury and deputy general manager K L Malhotra, are accused of being unaware of all the violations regarding means of escape, public address system.