SUM blaze: Fallout of criminal negligence
On the fateful evening of last Monday, a fire outbreak due to electrical short circuit in the SUM Hospital claiming the lives of 26 persons so far. Investigation is on after filing of an FIR in the Khandagiri police station and five persons have been arrested. Charges are of serious nature with punishment, if proved guilty, will vary between seven and ten years. From circumstantial evidence, there is no iota of doubt about the criminal negligence of the hospital authorities who have announced `5 lakh to the family of the deceased. The Central Government has given `2 lakh from the PM’s relief fund and the State Government has announced Rs 5 lakh to each of the deceased family and free treatment to the injured in the accident. That may be a temporary relief to the kith and kin of those who were trapped in the ICU by engulfing smoke and fire, but what about more than hundred hospitals of the State which do not have firefighting equipment to thwart such incidents. The commissionerate police rightly issued a lookout circular to the owner of the hospital and his wife who are trustees of an NGO. According to the latest report, the owner of the hospital has also been arrested. Binay Behera, DG, fire services has submitted his report on the incident and recommended strict action against the hospital authorities for flouting the fire safety norms. But has this incident left any lesson for the enforcement authorities to check out on the fire prevention preparedness in all hospitals of the StateIJ Will Binay Behera take up the responsibility of not ensuring the required fire prevention equipment in those hospitalsIJ Alternatively will the Government fix him on charges of dereliction in dutyIJ Although BJP’s demand for resignation of CM Naveen Patnaik is meant for the gallery, the Government cannot shirk its responsibility of safeguarding people’s life and liberty. However, Nayak’s resignation has cooled the public rage to a great extent.
Atanu: Naveen team’s first wicket falls
Team BJD’s first wicket has fallen. But the suspense still remains as to whether the matter is one of pressure or moral responsibility. The Sum Hospital fire which took 25 lives finally prompted Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak to resign, admitting his moral responsibility. But camouflaged as it is in the garb of a nexus between the owner of the hospital and the Minister, the SUM fire is a grave issue and Nayak’s resignation after five days of the accident has little to offer as a penance. That they were family friends and the Minister’s wife was enjoying the office of profit through her hubby had come in for sharp criticism in the public domain. But none the less, the resignation was a fallout of a host of earlier health related incidents starting from Sishu Bhawan child deaths to the SUM Hospital fire. In between there were Nagada malnutrition deaths, Dana Majhi’s body carrying incident in Kalahandi and a series of child deaths in Malkangiri district due to Japanese encephalitis. These five health-related issues had already raised much public ire against the Health Ministry which was so long patting its own back in the name of a significant development in health sector performance of the Government in 2015-16. Nayak is the first Minister during the 16 years’ rule of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to be shown the door, though many such probabilities in the past were ignored. Knowing him well as we do, by taking timely action, the CM has cleverly overcome a possible countdown of the BJD’s downfall ahead of the panchayat polls.
Dissent in State Cong comes to fore
Despite in denial mode, the State Congress’s dissent and feud came to the fore as all its sitting MlAs en masse, led by leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra, went to Delhi to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Mahanadi issue and later party vice president Rahul Gandhi. The other issue on hand, perhaps more important than the former, was a change in leadership. They met Rahul and pleaded for a change of guard which Rahul abruptly discarded and asked them to wait till the panchayat elections are over. Dissatisfied with such a response the legislators threatened mass resignation and when things went out of control, senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel and Motilal Bhora appeared on the scene as a crisis management group and tried to assuage their hard feelings. They persuaded these leaders for a second meeting with Rahul who is said to have agreed for considering a change of guard after summoning PCC chief Prasad Harichandan to Delhi. The five- day- long drama reached its anti climax in Delhi and the climax is likely to reach at Bhubaneswar but certainly not before the panchayat election. The loP might reiterate his loyalty to the PCC chief but the Congress legislature Party’s (ClP) en masse visit to Delhi has once again fuelled the speculation of fissures in the State Congress.
Substandard infra for sportspersons!
The Biju Patnaik Hockey Stadium, where an astro turf is laid to train the SAIl Hockey Academy cadets, falls short of adequate care on the maintenance front. Though the grass remains green because of continuous sprinkling of water, the players’ stand, the spectators’ gallery, the fence wire and even the goal post and the nets do not match the international standard of an astro turf stadium. Hockey being the major game in this part of the State, SAIl had decided for setting up a Hockey Academy with a stadium providing an astro turf therein. Everything went fine till the infrastructure was laid but as it happens more often than not the stadium has been reduced to a level below the expectation of the players with international experience. The players have not visited the gymnasium hall for quite a long time as the instruments are not functional for lack of maintenance and replacement, whenever required. The Sports Department mostly manned by some former cricketers has a love-hate relationship with hockey. The CEO of Rourkela Steel Plant and his charge de’affairs blissfully ignore sports saying it has nothing to do with production and profit. In this sort of a make-belief world, sports become casualty and resultantly the SAIl is blamed for its lackadaisical approach to sports.