Dabwali fire accident

Last updated
Dabwali fire accident
Date23 December 1995
VenueRajiv Marriage Palace
Location Mandi Dabwali, Sirsa District, Haryana, India
Type Building Fire
CauseIgnition of flammable tent canvas due to electric short circuit and subsequent collapse
DeathsAt least 442
Non-fatal injuries160

The Dabwali fire accident occurred on 23 December 1995 at Mandi Dabwali, a town in Sirsa district, Haryana in India.

Contents

Incident

The incident occurred at the Rajiv Marriage Palace in Dabwali, where the local DAV Public School was holding its annual prize distribution function. [1] A synthetic tent, which had been set up inside the building, caught alight when an electric generator short-circuited. The fire spread quickly and blocked the main entrance; many of the deaths were caused by the resultant stampede as 1,500 people tried to escape through the single exit door. At least 400 people died in the fire, and another 160 were injured, half of them with serious burns. [2] Some sources estimate that up to 540 people were killed, 170 of them being children and the rest adults. [3]

Aftermath

Dabwali Civil Hospital was unable to cope with the number of casualties, so many of the burn victims were sent to nearby towns for treatment. The Christian Medical College in Ludhiana received thirty-two patients, despite having only a six-bed burn unit and inadequate resources. [4] An angry crowd of 5,000 mourners gathered on the streets of Dabwali, deriding the emergency facilities and blocking the police from taking bodies away for cremation. [5]

In January 2003, a one-man commission was set up to investigate the incident, and to calculate the amount of compensation owed to the families of the victims. The commission, headed by Justice TP Garg, demanded numerous extensions and took over six years to conclude its report. [6] Compensation was eventually set at Rs 18cr (3.9 million USD$,2003), although in November 2009 the Punjab and Haryana High Court increased the amount to Rs 34cr (7.4 million USD$,2003), and added an extra 6% interest to make up for the delay. [7] The money was to be jointly supplied by the DAV trust and the Haryana government, and shared among the families of 446 victims. However, the DAV appealed against the decision, claiming that the amount was excessive, and that the school should not be responsible for compensating the families. [8] The court replied that they hadn’t carried out adequate fire safety checks, and directed them to pay an interim compensation of Rs 10cr(2.2 million USD$, 2003) before the appeal could be heard. [9]

Members of the Dabwali Fire Victims Association, formed by the survivors and the families of the dead, feel that not enough has been done to ensure that the tragedy will never be repeated. They claim that after sixteen years, the necessary fire safety regulations have still not been put in place. [1] They have also expressed disappointment that the government’s promises of a new 100-bed hospital and burn treatment centre have yet to be fulfilled. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bhopal disaster</span> 1984 gas leak accident in Bhopal, India

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal gas tragedy was a chemical accident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. Considered the world's worst industrial disaster, over 500,000 people in the small towns around the plant were exposed to the highly toxic gas methyl isocyanate (MIC). Estimates vary on the death toll, with the official number of immediate deaths being 2,259. In 2008, the Government of Madhya Pradesh paid compensation to the family members of 3,787 victims killed in the gas release, and to 574,366 injured victims. A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries. Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corporation. As of September 2022, the company had a leading market share of 42 percent in the Indian passenger car market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reliance Infrastructure</span> Infrastructure development company based in Mumbai, India

Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra), formerly Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), is an Indian private sector enterprise involved in power generation, infrastructure, construction and defence. It is part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The company is headed by its chairman, Anil Ambani, and chief executive officer, Punit Narendra Garg. The corporate headquarters is in Navi Mumbai. Reliance Infrastructure's interests are in the fields of power plants, metro rail, airports, bridges, toll roads, and defence. It is a major shareholder in the other group company, Reliance Power and Reliance Naval and Engineering Limited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mandi Dabwali</span> City in Haryana, India

Mandi Dabwali is a municipal committee town, in Bathinda district and Sirsa district in the Indian state of Punjab and Haryana. It is located on the border of Haryana and Punjab. It is at a distance of 60 km from Sirsa and 40 km from Bathinda, Punjab. Pin code of Mandi Dabwali is 125104 and STD code is 01668.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uphaar Cinema fire</span> 1997 cinema fire in Delhi, India

The Uphaar Cinema fire was one of the worst fire tragedies in recent Indian history. The fire started on Friday, 13 June 1997 at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, Delhi during the three o'clock screening of the movie Border. Fifty-nine people were trapped inside and died of asphyxiation(suffocation), while 103 were seriously injured in the resulting stampede.

Anti-Bihari sentiment refers to discrimination against the migrant people of the State of Bihar. Bihar had slower economic growth than the rest of India in the 1990s which led to Biharis migrating to other parts of India in search of opportunities. Bihari migrant workers have been subject to a growing degree of hatred by the locals of those states because of their stereotyping as criminals and traitors. Moreover, the Biharis have been victimized due to the growing anti-Hindi imposition sentiment in non-Hindi states owing to the Central government agencies excluding regional languages in many national exams and services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Kumbakonam School fire</span> 2004 School fire accident in Tamil Nadu

The 2004 Kumbakonam school fire happened in a school in Kumbakonam in the Thanjavur district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. On 16 July 2004, 94 students from the Krishna English Medium School's primary section were killed after the school's thatched roof caught fire. The accident was one of the four most significant fire accidents, the most significant school accident in the history of Tamil Nadu, and the second-largest school fire in India in terms of casualties after the Dabwali fire accident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Park, Delhi</span> Neighborhood of Delhi in South Delhi, India

Green Park is an upscale affluent neighborhood in South Delhi, India. The locality is divided into two parts i.e. Main and Extension. The neighbourhood registered a 4.4% growth in residential sales and was featured alongside Greater Kailash, Defence Colony, Vasant Vihar and Anand Niketan in the 2019 edition of Knight Frank 's quarterly report on prime luxury residential properties in various megacities around the globe. Property rates have always been high in this colony due to the numerous facilities available. Builder floors and independent villas cost anywhere between INR 6-70 crores in this colony. Rental rates are also very high due to which this residential area is among the most expensive pin codes of New Delhi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air India Express Flight 812</span> 2010 plane crash in Mangalore, India

Air India Express Flight 812 was a scheduled international flight from Dubai to Mangalore. On 22 May 2010, the Boeing 737-800 passenger jet operating the flight, crashed on landing at Mangalore. The captain had continued an unstabilised approach, despite three calls from the first officer to initiate a "go-around", resulting in the aircraft overshooting the runway, falling down a hillside, and bursting into flames. Of the 166 passengers and crew on board, 158 were killed ; only eight survived. This was the first fatal accident involving Air India Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMRI Hospitals</span> Hospital chain in India and Bangladesh

AMRI Hospitals is a private hospital chain which is headquartered in the city of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The company's head office is in Kolkata, West Bengal, with 3 units in Kolkata, 1 clinic in Kolkata and 1 unit Bhubaneshwar in the Indian State of Odisha. The hospital had also opened a health center in Dhaka for its Bangladeshi patients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Rahim Yar Khan bombing</span>

The 2012 Rahim Yar Khan bombing occurred on 15 January 2012, when a remote-controlled bomb exploded during a Shi'a Muslim procession in the city of Rahim Yar Khan in the southern region of Punjab province, Pakistan. Eighteen people were killed and dozens other injured, some critically, as a result of the attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medanta</span> Indian multi-specialty hospitals chain

Global Health Limited, d/b/a Medanta, is an Indian hospital chain based in Gurgaon, India. The chain was started in 2009 by cardiac surgeon Naresh Trehan and Sunil Sachdeva.

Hisar Airport, officially known as Maharaja Agrasen International Airport existing as domestic airport presently under upgrade by 30 March 2024, is a DGCA-licensed public airport serving Hisar in Haryana state of India. It is located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north-east of the city center on NH-9. Hisar is a National Capital Region Counter Magnet City on the 'Hisar-Narnaul Industrial Sub-corridor' of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project.

Factories in Pakistan's two largest cities of Karachi and Lahore caught fire on 11 September 2012. The fires occurred in a textile factory in the western part of Karachi and in a shoe factory in Lahore. The fires are considered to be the most deadly and worst industrial factory fires in Pakistan's history, killing 289 people and seriously injuring more than 600.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant</span>

The Gorakhpur Nuclear Power Plant or the Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojana (GHAVP) is a proposed nuclear power plant to be built on a 560 hectares area west of Gorakhpur village of Fatehabad district of Haryana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meditrina Hospital</span> Hospital in Kerala, India

Meditrina Hospital is a hospital in the city of Kollam, India. It is the first tertiary care hospital in the city, located at Ayathil, and was inaugurated 13 December 2014. Meditrina Group of Hospitals is headquartered at Kollam, mainly aiming to provide bypass and allied cardiac care.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 Bihar flood</span> Flood in Bihar, India

2017 Bihar floods affected 19 districts of North Bihar causing death of 514 people. 2,371 panchayats under 187 blocks of 19 districts of Northern Bihar have been affected in the flood. Around 1.71 crore people were hit by the floods. Over 8.5 lakhs of people have lost their homes, with Araria district alone accounting for 2.2 lakh homeless people. 2017 Flood has broken 9-Year record of deaths In Bihar. Bihar is India's most flood-prone State, with 76% of the population in the North Bihar living under the recurring threat of flood devastation. Devastating flood was caused due to excess heavy rainfall in monsoon season.

Bride buying in India is the practice of forced arranged marriages through human trafficking. Brides are commonly referred to as "paro" or "molki" within this framework. The brides are sold by their parents to human traffickers who transport and sell them within relatively wealthier regions of Northern India. The desire for a male child and subsequent female infanticide has resulted in a significantly lowered sex ratio within India, creating an abundance of unmarried men in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Western UP. These men resort to purchasing inter-region women from impoverished communities mainly to continue their family lineage. The key motivation for low-income families to sell their daughter is to receive financial compensation and avoid having to pay a dowry. Major sources are the impoverished parts of Northeast India (Assam), Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and Andhra Pradesh.

The 2011 AMRI Hospital fire was a major fire at a private hospital in Dhakuria, Kolkata, that occurred in the early morning of 9 December 2011. The hospital is part of a private hospital chain owned by the Emami & Sarachi group, known as AMRI Hospitals. The fire claimed 89 victims and was thought to have been caused by a short circuit in the basement. The spread of the fire was aided by the illegal storage of flammable material in the basement of the hospital. After the incident the directors of the hospital were taken into custody. They were said to have caused the fire due to inattention of the hospital staff, workers, cleaners, and nurses.

References

  1. 1 2 Mukherjee, Bhaskar. "Agony alive six years after Dabwali fire". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  2. ↑ About 400 killed in fire in India. CNN. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Arnold, Jim. Large Building Fires and Subsequent Code Changes Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine (Item 55) Department of Development Services, Nevada. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Fire in Dabwali Archived 7 September 2012 at archive.today . Christian Medical Fellowship. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  5. ↑ Angry India Mourners Protest Handling of Fire. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  6. ↑ Committee’s tenure extended by three months for report. The Indian Express. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  7. ↑ HC raises relief to Rs 34cr. The Times of India. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  8. ↑ Supreme Court directs DAV to pay compensation of Rs 10cr. DNA India. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  9. ↑ 10 crores for Dabwali fire victims. NDTV. Retrieved 6 March 2012.
  10. ↑ Promises remain unfulfilled 16 years after Dabwali fire. The Tribune. Retrieved 6 March 2012.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.