By IANS,
Kolkata: Angry Kolkatans hit the streets Saturday with protest demonstrations and silent marches as the AMRI Hospital fire tragedy toll rose to 91 while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered a judicial probe into the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India.
A day after the pre-dawn blaze broke out in the hospital’s Annexe-1 building in upscale Dhakuria area leading to the deaths, mostly of sleeping patients, a lower court remanded seven directors of the high-cost medical facility in ten days’ police custody.
“I have taken a decision to conduct a judicial probe which will run parallel to the inquiry under Joint Commissioner of Police (detective department) Damayanti Sen,” Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat, Writers’ Buildings.
With another injured succumbing in the hospital’s main block adjacent to the fire-hit building, the death count has gone up to 91, the hospital said.
However, admitting a fresh goof-up, Advance Medicare Research Institute (popularly known as AMRI) senior vice president S. Upadhyay said in a statement that two of its nurses died in the incident. A day ago, he had said three nurses had perished.
The AMRI Hospital Annexe 1 Saturday stood like a ghost building with shards of glasses and stone slabs strewn all around, soot and blood stained floors, the smell of death and smoke still in the air and fire brigade personnel on guard — a grim reminder of the tragedy.
The state government has already sealed and cancelled the licence of the Annexe 1 block of the hospital – co-founded by the private Emami and Shrachi Groups along with the state government in 1996.
The two other blocks, which usually bustle with patients, doctors, and their relatives and were untouched by the deadly fire, sported a deserted look with most of those admitted having been shifted elsewhere by their family members.
Meanwhile, Kolkata erupted in protest. It was a collective chorus of anger and shock as intellectuals, celebrities and commoners demanded exemplary punishment for the culprits and a mechanism to keep a tab on the working of private hospitals.
“The culprits should be given an exemplary punishment so that from next time, nobody even thinks of ignoring basic fire safety norms for saving some money,” fashion designer Agnimitra Paul told IANS.
“Punishment should be given but at the same time, the government should also prepare a mechanism to keep a tab on private hospitals who charge enormous amounts of money for treatment and that too by confusing people,” writer Sirshendu Mukhopadhay said.
Netizens poured out their anger on the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
“The Kolkata hospital fire just reinforces the fact that in India, while living gets expensive, life remains cheap,” Ajit tweeted.
The AMRI directors, arrested Friday for offences including culpable homicide not amounting to murder which attracts a maximum punishment of a jail term up to ten years and fine, were brought to the Alipore chief judicial magistrate’s court under tight security. Hundreds of protestors outside the court premises demanded death penalty for them and lawyers vowed not to defend them.
The directors, including Shrachi Group chairman S.K. Todi and his counterpart in the Emami Group R.S. Goenka, were sent to ten days in police remand by CJM S.M. Shahnawaz Khan.
One of the seven directors, R.S. Agarwal, who was admitted to a private hospital Friday evening, could not be presented before the court. He is placed under arrest in the hospital.
Accusing the hospital authorities of recklessness, government counsel Kalyan Bandopadhyay later told reporters: “The directors had deliberately switched off the fire alarms and locked the exit doors. They had blatantly violated fire safety norms.”
Over 1,500 people – comprising doctors, nurses, healthcare staff, school and college children, social activists other professionals and pedestrians – walked silently hand in hand carrying aloft posters and banners with black borders from Golpark to the hospital about half a km away.
“Aar noi, AMRI-r moto PPP Model hospital (No more PPP model hospital like AMRI)”, “They give us life for their own interest, they took our lives for the same interest, now it is your choice” – said some of the posters and banners.
The state government constituted two panels to check safety measures in the city buildings. Fire Minister Javed Khan said notices will be issued to those flouting the fire safety norms.
But amidst all these activities, the dead were not forgotten. Many citizens went near the hospital, lighting candles and leaving bouquets and garlands to pay heir respect to the souls who had died a painful and slow death.