M A I N   N E W S

Little help for traumatised
Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 4
Even as six injured persons were discharged yesterday after nine persons, who had suffered severe burn injuries when the Bank of Rajasthan building had got converted into an inferno after crashing of a MiG-21 into it, had to be shifted to Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMC) at Ludhiana after providing them first aid late last night for lack of facilities have to treat the burn patients.

This has put a serious question mark on the functioning of the state’s biggest 450-bedded hospital.

Deputy Commissioner K. Siva Prasad said the condition of patients shifted to Ludhiana was stable and out of danger.

The number of deaths, experts feel, could have been minimised had the patients with severe burn injuries been treated promptly. This could not be effected for want of a well-equipped trauma centre to deal with such exigencies. Of course, the hospital has a four-bedded burns ward, but it apparently lacked adequate facilities to treat the victims.

According to the hospital authorities, there is an urgent need to set up a special trauma unit in the hospital as about 10 burn patients are admitted here every month. Besides, patients from nearby places are also referred to the hospital by private doctors.

The rescue operations, which had initially went haywire for lack of coordination between the police and fire brigade authorities besides lack of equipment and professional expertise, witnessed a sudden speeding up as a well-equipped Army rescue team comprising 25 officers, 28 JCOs and 350 from other ranks, led by Brig R. S. Sidhu, Sub-Area Commander, reached the spot at about 10.30 a.m., just half an hour after the plane crashlanded at the place, turning the bank and other buildings in a big inferno.

Interestingly, the Army team reached the spot within no time after the Deputy Commissioner, Mr K. Siva Prasad, informed the Army authorities about the eventuality before leaving for the affected area. “They were amazingly prompt in their response and it was their professional approach which contained the fire,” said Mr Prasad. The team had pressed eight fire tenders, five cranes, four tippers and four ambulances into service, which made ongoing rescue operations more effective, particularly, as the municipal corporation fire brigade was ill-equipped to deal with the highly inflammable aviation fuel-stirred fire and had no chemical based fire extinguishers.

“Our first priority was to save people and the building which had developed huge cracks when we reached there. Saving the building was more important since its collapse could have resulted in more deaths as a large number of Army people and civilians were engaged in rescue work inside it,” said Brigadier Sidhu, who supervised the entire rescue operation. Besides, the area is highly populated and congested. The rescue team was able to evacuate about 24 persons trapped inside the bank and adjoining buildings, even as the rescue job was made more difficult by huge piles of plywood on the first floor of the bank building and large amounts of aviation fuel.

Meanwhile, the Air Force and municipal corporation authorities, still engaged in the operations, extricated the engine and other parts of the MiG-21 from inside the bank building and scattered all over the city. The black box has already been recovered amid tight police security. The entire area near the Central Jail was blocked by the police due to which the entire area wore a deserted look today.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Rajasthan today announced that it would provide an ex-gratia grant of Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 1 lakh to the families of permanent and temporary bank employees, respectively, who had been killed on Friday, in MIG-21 crash.

This was announced at a press conference here today by the Chairman of the bank, Mr Pawan Kumar Sayal, and the Executive Director, Mr Vinod Janjua.

Besides, the bank would provide Rs 50,000 each to the injured persons, who were at present undergoing treatment at CMC, Ludhiana.

The Chairman further said that one of the family members of the deceased employees would get a permanent job in the bank. “Though the loss of life can not be compensated in monetary terms, we have decided to appoint one of the family members of the deceased bank employees in the bank since it is our primary duty to look after their families,” he said.

Regarding resumption of the normal functioning of the Adda Bastian bank branch, he maintained that they were in search of a proper accommodation and the bank branch would start its normal operations positively by Monday.