By IANS,
Kolkata: In the wake of a devastating fire in a city hospital which claimed 90 lives, the West Bengal government Saturday constituted two high-level panels to check safety measures in various schools, colleges, hospitals and malls in the city.
“A five-member team headed by D.P. Biswas, the additional director-general (ADG) of the fire department, has been already constituted. Another team also would be formed that will undertake a round-the-week check of fire safety measures in various educational institutions, hospitals, shops and malls in the city,” Fire and Emergency Services Minister Javed Khan said.
“Both the committees, after completing the survey, will submit a weekly report to the principal secretary which then will be forwarded to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She will decide the future course of action based on the reports,” he added.
In the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India, 90 patients and staffers were killed in city’s well-known AMRI Hospital when a blaze started in the basement of the annexe building early Friday and quickly spread, trapping hundreds of people.
The pre-dawn blaze broke out early Friday, catching many in their sleep. While most nurses, doctors and other staffers were able to get away, many critically ill patients died in their hospital beds.
A high-level probe team has been also formed under Joint Commissioner of Police Damayanti Sen to look into the tragedy.
Sen earlier said that the fire department had found AMRI Hospital’s safety systems inadequate and had instructed the hospital authorities to upgrade these in July this year.