By IANS
New Delhi : Stories of grief, pain and frustration came alive and wounds were laid bare Wednesday as families remembered the 59 people asphyxiated and trampled to death when a fire broke out in south Delhi's Uphaar cinema, exactly 10 years ago.
As 28 families gathered for a memorial service here on the 10th death anniversary of their loved ones, and lit 59 lamps in memory of the 59 victims of the tragedy, the agony of losing their loved ones came back to them.
Sitting at the Smriti Upvan, the memorial built in memory of the deceased opposite the now shut cinema hall, Neelam Krishnamoorthy, who lost her teenage daughter and son on an afternoon outing to watch "Border", looked on quietly.
"I am sitting at a place where I lost both my children. Lost them to an accident which was perfectly avoidable," said Krishnamoorthy, who is also president of The Association of the Victims of the Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT).
Like every year, a havan and a prayer service was organised and devotional songs were sung at the memorial service, attended by more than 300 people.
"It was Friday the 13th, the most unlucky day of our lives, when the tragedy struck in 1997. Each day of the weeklong vigil that we observed until today represented the 10 years of agony and injustice that we have gone through," said Krishnamoorthy.
But pain is not the only emotion that the families are harbouring.
"We are very angry and frustrated at the unnecessary delay in delivering justice. We are awaiting the verdict of the criminal liability case against the guilty. The trial is on July 2," she added.
In 1997, 59 people died and 103 were injured when a major fire broke out in the packed Uphaar cinema hall in south Delhi during the screening of J.P. Dutta's war movie "Border" following a fault in the electric generator.
By the time the audience realised what had happened, the hall, owned by real estate developers Ansals, was on fire. It was too late. Many died of asphyxiation while others lost their lives in a stampede.
Although the Delhi High Court held the owners of the building and several government agencies guilty of not adhering to safety norms at the cinema and slapped monetary penalties, the families of the victims are not satisfied.
"There must be a fixed time frame for every trial otherwise there are chances of evidence getting tampered with," Krishnamoorthy said.
The families are, however, not only fighting for their deceased members but also voicing their opinion to avoid more such accidents.
"Please spend a little more and ensure on provisions of safety. Hundreds of innocent lives are lost every year because of perfectly avoidable accidents," pleaded Shekhar Krishnamoorthy, Neelam's husband.