UP forms team to probe Jhansi hospital fire, denies claims of expired extinguishers

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said a short circuit caused the fire at the children's ward of a Jhansi medical college that killed 10 newborns. The state government ordered a three-tier probe into the incident.

In Short

• 10 newborns killed, 16 injured in Jhansi hospital fire on Friday
• UP government rejected reports of expired fire extinguishers at hospital
• Ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh announced for victims' families

The Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday formed a four-member committee to probe into the fire tragedy at the children's ward of Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi that killed 10 newborns, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath confirmed that the blaze was caused by a short circuit.

At an election rally at Phulpur in Prayagraj, Adityanath said, "To ensure that other children were rescued, we were up all night coordinating (with officials) for relief and rescue efforts," he said while explaining why he was delayed in arriving at the rally.

"My heart goes out to those who lost their children," he said.

The committee will be headed by the Director General of Medical Education and Training and has been tasked with identifying the cause of the fire and determining whether any negligence was involved. The team has been asked to submit its report within seven days.

Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said the fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) wards of the hospital. Sixteen children suffered injuries in the incident.

The state government also rejected reports that the hospital had expired fire extinguishers, saying they were working normally.

AUTOPSY OF 7 OF 10 NEWBORNS DONE

A post-mortem examination of seven infants was carried out on Saturday while the autopsy of three could not be conducted as their parents were not identified yet, Additional Superintendent of Police (City) of Jhansi Gyanendra Kumar Singh told news agency PTI.

Senior Superintendent of Police Sudha Singh told reporters on Saturday that 16 injured children were being treated and efforts were underway to save their lives.

There was also information that some parents took their children home after the fire erupted in the ward, she said, adding police were trying to verify the tally of infants who were in the NICU and their current status.

"The medical college had informed that 52 to 54 children were admitted at the time of the incident. While 10 of them died, 16 are undergoing treatment. Verification for others is ongoing," Singh added.

'FIRE EXTINGUISHERS WORKING FINE'

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak dismissed reports that the hospital had expired fire extinguishers, saying the firefighting equipment in the medical college was completely fine. "A fire safety audit was carried out at the medical college in February and a mock drill was conducted in June," he said.

The principal of the medical college, Dr Narendra Singh Sengar, also termed the allegations of expired fire extinguishers at the facility as "baseless".

Adityanath expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and directed the officials to provide all possible help to them. "Ten newborns died in the accident, while 54 were rescued," he said.

On Adityanath's directions to expedite the rescue work, senior officials took charge of the situation on Friday night itself, a statement from the Uttar Pradesh government said.

Most of the children were evacuated to safety within 15 to 20 minutes through the rescue operation, it said, adding that most of the infants were shifted to the PICU ward.

EX-GRATIA ANNOUNCED, PROBE ORDERED

An assistance of Rs 5 lakh each was being provided to the parents of the newborns who died in the incident and Rs 50,000 to the family of each of the injured from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

The Chief Minister directed the Divisional Commissioner of Jhansi and the Deputy Inspector General of Police to submit a report on the incident within 12 hours, the government statement said.

Pathak, the Deputy Chief Minister, wrote on X, "Instructions have been issued to launch a three-tier probe into the incident. The Jhansi Divisional Commissioner and the DIG have been told to probe the matter and the fire department will also look into it. Along with this, instructions have also been given for a magisterial inquiry into the incident."

In another post on X, Pathak said he had spoken to the family of the children injured in the blaze and assured them of all possible help.

Later, interacting with reporters, the Deputy Chief Minister said, "We will detect the cause of the incident and whose negligence led to it. The priority is giving quality treatment to the injured."

NHRC NOTICE TO UP GOVERNMENT

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief in connection with the incident, which it described as "disturbing". The commission sought a detailed report within a week.

The commission observed that the contents of the reports of the fire tragedy were "indeed disturbing and indicate negligence" resulting in a "grave violation" of the human rights of the victims as they were in the care of a government institution.

President Droupadi Murmu termed the incident "extremely heartbreaking" while Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each victim.

The fire tragedy sparked a political blame game in Uttar Pradesh where bypolls to nine Assembly seats will be held on November 20. Opposition parties blamed the BJP government in the state for the incident and said the deaths raise serious questions about the negligence of the administration.

(with inputs from PTI)