1 week Ago By Yagnesh Bharat Mehta
Surat: More than five years after the Takshashila Arcade fire tragedy of May 2019, the demand for a memorial for the 22 victims has finally ben fulfilled with the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) having developed a memorial. The memorial was inaugurated by chief minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday. The memorial was developed at a cost of Rs 23 lakh.
The 99sqmt structure stands on 409sqmt land alongside Sarthana Nature Park. The memorial is developed right opposite Takshashila Arcade, where the incident took place on May 24, 2019. "What we lost will never return, but we were demanding a memorial so that people do not forget that such an incident happened here.
This memorial will keep reminding us that we should not repeat the mistakes that we did then," said Ramesh Balar, father of Rumi, who died in the fire. Parents of the victims gathered at the memorial on Friday. Most of them were visiting the memorial for the first time.
The memorial has a wall with images of all the victims. There is a glass shelf with each photo to place a lamp or incense stick. It also has an angle to hang a garland on each photo.
The photos have the full name of the deceased, their birth date, and death anniversary, along with the name of their native place. The majority of the deceased were natives of Saurashtra. There are raised platforms to sit in front of the photo wall, while the roof has transparent sheets to let natural light in.
There is a separate room to carry out activities. Every year on the anniversary of the tragedy, parents and citizens gather at Takshashila Arcade to pay homage to the deceased. Jaysukh Gajera, father of Grishma, said: "The memorial will remind us all of what happened here so that we will be careful in the future.
This incident is an example of negligence by the authorities, builders, and the property owners. This memorial will remind us of what went wrong." The memorial was a long-pending demand of the parents.
They were shown different locations but the parents were demanding a place close to Takshashila Arcade. It was also a demand to develop an open memorial so that people can see it even while moving in a vehicle. The students who died were in a coaching class to prepare for an admission test in interior design and architecture courses.
Most of those died lost their lives due to inhaling smoke, while a few died after jumping from a window. The entire fourth floor was illegal. Highly inflammable material like car tyres and wooden desks used there led the fire to spread fast.
The staircase connecting the floor to the rest of the building was also wooden, and it first caught fire, due to which the students could not escape. The fire started on the first floor due to a spark in an outer unit of an AC. This fire set a flex banner on fire and then spread to the upper floors.
A total of 14 accused were arrested, including officials from Surat Fire and Emergency Services (SFES), Surat Municipal Corporation, Dakshin Gujarat Vij Company Ltd, and developers of the building. All the accused are now out on bail..
