Probe confirms breakdown in oxygen supply; Yogi slams media for exposing his failure

News Network

August 13, 2017

Lucknow, Aug 13: Facing flak following death of over 30 children in 48 hours allegedly owing to shortage of oxygen at BRD Medical College in his Lok Sabha constituency of Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday sought to indicate that the deaths had been caused by encephalitis and slammed the media for what he termed resorting to ''fake reporting'' on such a sensitive matter.

A preliminary probe report by the Gorakhpur district magistrate, however, admitted that there was a ''breakdown'' in the supply of oxygen on the night of Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the BRD Medical College, Adityanath said that he had been fighting battle against encephalitis for the past 20 years and no one ''understood'' the agony of the people better than him.

The chief minister also seemed to suggest that one could expect high casualty figure given the fact that three to five thousand patients visited the BRD Medical College every day.

''You (media) should not resort to fake reporting.....you (media) should visit the wards and report from there and not from outside.....go and see for yourself in the ward whether the patients are being treated or there is a carnage,'' he said.

Adityanath, who was accompanied by union minister for health J P Nadda, said that the government would wait for the report of the chief secretary led high level committee before taking action in the matter. ''Let the report come out...we will not spare the guilty,'' he added.

Nadda said that the union government would set up a Regional Centre for Research at Gorakhpur to facilitate research on vector borne diseases.

The opposition parties, however, continued their attack on Adityanath. Congress on Sunday termed the deaths as ''murder'' and demanded resignations of chief minister and the state health minister.

Notwithstanding the denials of the state government, a preliminary report by the district magistrate said that there was a ''breakdown'' in the oxygen supply on Thursday night.

30 children, mostly new born, had died allegedly owing to shortage of oxygen at the hospital in a period of 36-hours between Thursday and Friday. The government had suspended the principal of the medical college Dr. R.K.Mishra on charges of laxity.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Voting underway in Karnataka bypolls: Family legacies and political heavyweights battle across 3 segments

News Network

November 13,2024

Bengaluru: An estimated overall 10.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, since the voting began for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.

The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.

While Channapatna recorded 10.34 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, it was 10.08 per cent in Shiggaon, and 9.99 per cent in Sandur, election officials said.

Voters, including women and elderly were seen queuing up in front of polling booths in these segments.

By-polls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) -- to Lok Sabha in May elections.

As many as 31 candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the three segments for the smooth conduct of the polls.

The by-polls will witness a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA alliance is in contest against the grand old party.

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a "high profile", where the contest is between C P Yogeeshwara, a five time MLA from the segment and former Minister, who joined the Congress quitting BJP ahead of nomination, and actor-turned -politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son and former PM H D Deve Gowda's grandson.

BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai, is fighting Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former Chief Minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

Bharath Bommai and his father cast their vote at a polling booth in Shiggaon segment.

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram's wife E Annapurna of Congress is contesting from the seat vacated by her husband, against, BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, who is considered close to party leader and former mining barron G Janardhan Reddy.

Annapurna, Tukaram and other family members cast their votes at a booth in the segment.

With Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharath Bommai contesting, the third generation of Gowda and Bommai families are in the fray in this by-poll. Both their fathers and grandfathers have served as Karnataka's Chief Ministers in the past.

Comments