Exhibition ground fire: Traders protest, seek compensation

A day after a major fire gutted more than 130 stalls at an annual all-India exhibition here, the affected traders Thursday staged a protest demanding compensation. Police said investigation was on to ascertain the exact cause of the fire that broke out Wednesday night destroying over 130 stalls, out of the around 2,500 put up at the exhibition. There was no casualty in the blaze.

Telangana Home Minister MohammedMahmood Ali has ordered an inquiry into the incident at the expo, a popular annual fixture in the city for nearly eight decades featuring traders from across the country. Traders offering household goods to dry fruits to garments and businesses, including state and central public sector undertakings such as banks, have set up stalls.

The affected traders said they had taken loans to set up the stalls and demanded financial assistance from the government to overcome the loss suffered by them due to the fire, that was doused around 11 pm, nearly three hours after it broke out. They gathered near the Exhibition Grounds and raised slogans alleging the Exhibition Society did not make proper arrangements and none came to their rescue when flames engulfed their stalls, a charge denied by the society.

President of the Exhibition Society Eatala Rajender, quoting initial reports, said throwing of lighted cigarette butts was said to have triggered the fire. He said steps were being taken on a war-footing to replace the burnt stalls by Friday and the society decided to return the rent taken from the affected traders.

This is a sad incident. It is for the first time in the last 79 years so many shops were burnt in a fire accident," Rajender told reporters here. In future, steps would be taken to insure the stalls and also deploy modern equipment, he said adding the society would extend all possible support to the traders.

The exhibition would remain closed for public Thursday and Friday and the demand for extending its duration would be considered, he said. "Everything has been reduced to ashes... we suffered heavy property loss. We had taken loans to run businesses and now we are on the streets," a trader said.

The traders blamed the Exhibition Society over the incident alleging the fire engine stationed at the venue did not have sufficient water. Police said the blaze started in a private bank's stall due to a suspected electrical short-circuit and then spread rapidly.

There were no casualties in the incident in which over 130 stalls were gutted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) P Viswa Prasad told PTI. Two persons, who were admitted to hospital due to suffocation after thick smoke engulfed the area, have been discharged, officials said.

Fire-fighting teams along with 12 fire tenders and as many water tankers put out the blaze along with personnel from the disaster response force of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, they said. The fire spread panic among the hundreds of visitors, all of whom were safely evacuated, officials said.

They said a total of 35,000 people Wednesday visited the 45-day long All-India industrial exhibition 'Numaish', which began on January 1..