A day after devastating fire, locals, police clash on premises
Even as the death toll in Friday's fire at AMRI Hospitals here rose to 91 on Saturday, six directors of the hospital were remanded in police custody for 10 days by a city court, while a seventh will be produced before the court once released from hospital.
Amid the ongoing probe, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said a judicial inquiry would be made into the incident. The hospital's licence has been revoked.
The simmering tension on the hospital complex at Dhakuria reached the flashpoint in the evening, when residents from the nearby areas, convinced that several bodies of children were left in the building, clashed with the police.
The premises of the affected wing of the hospital were off-limits for everyone, including journalists, throughout the day, but in the evening a van was allowed in, purportedly to remove hazardous materials from the building.
But residents refused to let the vehicle leave the area, alleging that it was a ploy to move the bodies of children away from the premises. Raising a clamour at the locked gates of the premises, they demanded that they be allowed to inspect the vehicle. For the second time in two days, the police had to resort to batons.
On Friday, the hospital authorities turned away residents of the area who had rushed to the hospital to offer their help.
A day after the tragedy, the police cordoned off the premises to prevent anyone from entering. A breach in the wall through which local youths had forced an entry has been boarded up; the snapped wire fencing has been fixed.
Wreaths were laid, condolence messages put up and candles lit outside the hospital in memory of the victims, while there were demonstrations in the vicinity against the negligence of the authorities.
Radioactivity scare
After rescue workers learnt about the presence of radioactive material in the radio therapy department, a team of experts from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) visited the hospital premises during the day.
Relatives are still looking for Santosh Das, a resident of Tripura who was admitted to the hospital but could neither be found in any of the hospitals to which patients were moved on Friday nor among the bodies at the morgue of the State-run S.S.K.M. hospital.
Keywords: Kolkata hospital fire, AMRI hospital, Disaster Management, rescue operation, hospital negligence, Mamata Banerjee government
Why the government do not close or seize the establishments like restaurants/ hospitals/ cinema halls/ schools/colleges/ labs/ public places when they are not with regulations? Why they are intended to give notices and extension of time when it is so important which cost lives of innocent people? Why the system is so lethargic and wait for the deaths to happen? Closing or putting a seal on the door on such establishments doesn't cost anything to government? I suggest government should start a "ESTABLISHMENTS SEIZE DRIVE" on war foot basis and close all the business if they are not met with international standards for safety.
Now hospital directors are well protected by the bureaucracy. That is what happening. Everyone involved in the chain of corruption is liable. But who will get punished? Leave them to the public. Like small thieves are beaten to death elsewhere in the country, these money makers should be punished.
What about the officials of regulatory agencies who signed the fitness certificate for the AMRI buildings? They must be given exemplary punishment so that in future, such custodians of public safety do not take other inducements in to consideration while certifying conformance to safety regulations.
Haha, law taking its course of action? Its a joke in India, really! Who
are these directors? Their names? Background? Nothing is mentioned in
any of these articles. All this custody and drama - eyewash!!
The building owners and hospital authorities are culprits, no doubt.
Hospitals have become multispeciality, with all modern techniques and
imported equipments. we are talking about health tourism also. These
people follow the international progress and adopt them successfully;
things being so, why for basic Fire safety, they have not acted. Even
in the house, where only few members are there such issues are
important- then only the need in public places where people in
hundreds, move everyday. The local authorities and government cannot
washed their hands. without their certification, no one can do any
business - who is accountable; none? This will be in the news for few
days ; from first page headlines to inside page, small news item and
finally, silent on this.
We will need to watch how the law takes care of the accused in this case. Remmebr that there is still dissatisfaction among the families of the UPhaar victims of light punishments meted out. Recall what had happend to the Kumbakonam school kids. The moral of the story is there is callousness in delivery of public services; the private sector cuts corners and saves money for maximising profits at the cost of the people.
Sending the directors of the hospital to jail may be necessary but is not a final solution. Creating fire safety awareness among all sections of the society is very important but it is not an easy task. Experience is that such fire accidents do occur in public places. Unfortunately, however, we Indians are very insensitive to all accidental deaths. There was an organization called Loss Prevention Association of India (LPA) , which was set up by the nationalized general insurance industry in 1977. LPA was involved in the work of promotion of various aspects of fire, industrial and road safety. It was doing commendable work but sadly the public sector insurance companies did not realize the importance of LPA's prevention work and the organization was wound up in 2007. This piece of information is just to point out that as a society we are not really prepared to spare our efforts and money to create a world with fewer and fewer accidental deaths.
I sympathize the victims of the tragedy and their kith and kin. However the behavior of the lawyers is incomprehensible.Due process with due legal representation, if necessary, even at the cost of the tax payers' money is a must.Without proper hearing we will not know the truth.Without giving a chance for the facts to be aired we may never come to know of the cause of the tragedy and we cannot take measures to prevent such tragedies in the future.Truth and the constitutional rights of the accused will be a casualty if the lawyers have their way in preventing the fellow lawyers from representing the accused.To say the least as officers of the court the lawyers should behave better.If the lawyers want to give summarily a guilty verdict by indulging in stonewalling and preventing adequate representation of the accused those lawyers are not fit to be the officers of the court and seek employment elsewhere.
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