4-member team to probe newborn deaths in UP fire; PM offers Rs 2L relief to kin

The UP Government on Saturday formed a four-member committee to probe the fire at the children’s ward of a medical college in Jhansi that killed 10 newborns as officials suspected electrical short circuit to be the cause of the incident.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mourned the loss of life and announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased. The UP government also announced an ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh each to the parents of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those of the injured.

CM Yogi Adityanath has directed the Divisional Commissioner of Jhansi, the fire department and the deputy inspector general of police to submit a report within 12 hours.

Amid claims that the medical college had expired fire extinguishers, Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak asserted the firefighting equipment at the college was in order. A fire safety audit was carried out in February and a mock drill in June. College principal Dr Narendra Singh Sengar also termed the allegations “baseless”.

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

“Sixteen children are undergoing treatment in other wards of the medical college. The children, who were three to four days old, have been kept on a warmer,” said Pathak.

The blaze at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where the infants admitted were mostly prematurely born, has been doused but the air around is heavy with sorrow. Parents, mostly young mothers, and their families who gathered outside the children’s ward clung to one another, drawing strength in their darkest hour.

Yakub Mansuri was sleeping on the pavement outside the children’s ward on Friday night when the fire broke out. He broke in through a window and managed to rescue some newborns but not his two daughters. Santoshi, who gave birth just 11 days ago, sat on the ground sobbing, not ready to accept the loss of her child.

Post-mortem of seven infants was carried out on Saturday while the autopsy of three could not be done as their parents had not been identified yet, Additional SP (City) of Jhansi Gyanendra Kumar Singh.

District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said the fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the NICU wards of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state’s Bundelkhand region, possibly due to an electrical short circuit. President Droupadi Murmu termed the incident “extremely heartbreaking”.

The incident sparked a political blame game in the state where bypolls to nine Assembly seats are to be held on November 20. Opposition parties blamed the BJP government in the state and said the deaths raise many serious questions on the administration. Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge demanded an investigation into the accident and strict legal action against those found guilty.