Some days ago, a bus fell off a bridge killing over a dozen passengers. The miraculously unscathed driver vanished into the blue, but the owner was instantly nabbed by the authorities and put behind bars without being considered fit for bail the court for the charges slapped by police were tough. Two days ago, in a heartrending fire breakout at a private hospital, 21 ailing persons, who had come to go back fit and fine, died. Many others are critically injured and being treated at other hospitals. The bus owner is still in trouble despite demonstration of unprecedented solidarity by the private transport operator fraternity. But the boss of the hospital, which also is a routinely bloodsucking medical college, has turned invisible. The Fire Service authorities have already come to know that the hospital lacks in every mandatory fire safety facility. Further, it’s known now that the hospital has no licence to run the huge healthcare centre. The media across the country is expressing great shock that the owner is still missing from the scene, let alone make a weeping statement that grave blunders have been committed. More unfortunately, these money-spinning, outwardly grand infrastructures have been found to be hollow inside -- mortar, machines and manipulated systems too many but no skilled workforce, not even worthy enough teaching professionals.
The whole world felt the jolt as bigger than usual because the fire event occurred in the lifesaving ICU and dialysis units. The chairman is indeed a super brain; he runs a whole university and under this umbrella, there are many educational institutes including engineering colleges, medical and dental training outfits. There is also disturbing news that the founders are habitual land-grabbing masters. During some regime, the boss had managed to influence a Minister, who is no more to testify the fact, and grabbed huge patches of prime Government land. Subsequently, the revenue authorities discovered the crime and initiated action against which the founders got court relief. Moreover, the make-believe education Moghuls spent a great deal of public funds or capitation fee collected from obsessed student-parents and set up media outfits, both print and television, only to create an aura of grandeur and ensure a protective mechanism against public ire and attack. Not surprisingly, while the whole world is crying for the founders’ blood, the home media is making silly presentations to create a protective haze around. The people have begun hating the founders for this single act of heartless stand apart from the shameless display of lack of courage. leading media houses have carried headline news of the Health Minister’s wife having been appointed as a professor in the university. The Minister keeps saying his wife’s involvement would not affect investigation in any manner, rather than having the lady withdrawn from the dubious organisation without any further delay.
October 2-born lal Bahadur Shastri, had resigned as the Railway Minster within minutes after hearing that a train accident had occurred, which had nothing to do with his decision or action. But our Health Minister has paid scant regards to the grave issue of a ‘conflict of interest’ situation that has developed due to his sensitive position. Hopefully, he will pull his wife from the scene of controversy to keep intact his seemingly clean image which includes being ruthlessly impartial in matters that directly or indirectly come under his functional jurisdiction.
There is clear indication by the media that out of 568 healthcare units across Odisha, maybe 20% have adhered to mandatory compliances. The licence and permission-granting authorities accept hefty bribe to look the other way. The AMRI hospital of Kolkata had a fire disaster in 2011. But the authorities nabbed the founders and fixed them so well that the compensation package to the survivors of the deceased was fair and highly acceptable. The law took its own course and the matter concluded to the public satisfaction. Similarly the Delhi Upahaar cinema fire accident virtually destroyed the owners in legal punishment and kept the theatre locked under custody as material evidence for helping the court in the criminal case.
Fortunately at the present, the Fire Service wing of the police force is headed by the senior most-cadre Director General of Police, who is known for his tough stand on all matters of public interest. He is sure to dig too deep into the SUM Hospital disaster and pluck the crooks from the shady organisation that has played with the lives of patients who came trustingly to the hospital projected as good by orchestrated media hype. After relocating all the patients from the death chambers, the hospital must be sealed to be kept away as material evidence as in the cases of Upahaar and AMRI in the past. The entire empire of Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan must come under the public scanner and be confiscated by the state if wilful criminal breaches of any kind are discovered in their operations including administrative and false publicity domains. The authorities have to look for State officials having been linked obviously to extend critical support out of turn like in the sad case of the Minister’s wife being there as an employee and not responding appropriately by resigning or making a straight, objective comment. She should have done her due diligence before having a job simply by looking into the antecedents of the organisation’s founders.
The Provident Fund, Income Tax and other statutory authorities including BMC and GA et al must revisit the organisation more seriously than before to make sure crime has not been committed. Most shady organisations keep robbing the State and the gullible masses under the sheath of nonprofit entities that make incalculable money and yet do not pay a dime to the public exchequer by way of taxes. The Sum Hospital land records need extra thorough scrutiny too to uncover any craftily-designed ‘cover-up’ job.
Someone calls up anonymously to say that a criminal in the education world of Odisha is now a public figure because his antecedents have been kept buried with failsafe application of bribe power. This ‘he’ or ‘she’, once a teacher in some OUAT concern, was dismissed from service for heinous acts of corruption. Today, no one known to the fold is able to say clearly what happened to the case and how today he or she is able to keep everyone deaf and dumb about the crime-ridden past. The people of Odisha are, however, sure that the no-nonsense Naveen Patnaik administration will leave no stone unturned in unravelling the mysteries that keep bothering the whole nation. The Sum Hospital boss is advised to surrender to the police without further delay, which can get him much relief at the courts of law as well in the public domain.
*Interestingly, Justice Katju, who was just beginning to slide into deep remark about trouble for having made a stupid comment on the Odia race, has escaped being hurt only because of the SUM fire incident. Katju must dispatch a ‘thanks’ note to the SUM Hospital boss later when life regains normalcy, believably in near future.
All said and done, the worst conduct by the Odia people was to accord the senile former Supreme Court judge extremely undue importance which made the ‘zero’-level guy a ‘hero’ in some mad way. A ‘lost-in-the-oblivion loudmouth’, who loves making silly comments on all matters of public interest, regained fame for being significantly controversial with hardly any effort or price. It would hardly matter if he demonises or deifies a person or a race. Ignoring a madman would have saved trouble, turmoil and media space and all the lost energy. Besides having been rattled by the outcry, he lost no time in apologising unconditionally. The whole literate world had the best laugh of the century when he said, “Because Ashoka defeated the Kalinga king in the 3rd century BC, Odias have borne a grudge ever since and are pleading with lord Jagannath to give the latter an opportunity to take revenge!”
The Odia community has shown lack of commonsense in attaching importance to an act by a lately-proven moron.
let the suffering community work harder to set the house in order rather than waste time and energy on nonissues. The ‘hospital safety’ concerns should bother every Odia more than any other matter now.
(The writer is a core member of Transparency International, Odisha)