The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a three-tier probe into the fire incident, that killed 10 newborns, at the children's ward of a medical college in Uttar Pradesh's Jhansi district.
The government also denied the reports of expired fire extinguishers at the facility.
Modi in 2014:
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- Our aim is to destroy mindset of VIP culture of Old India.
India in 2024 :
- Arrangements being made for the VVIP visit of a minister at Jhansi hospital where 10 newborns died because of catching fire.pic.twitter.com/M443DHo7yt
As the post-mortem of the infants is underway, police said that some of the infants are yet to be identified by their parents.
Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College is one of the largest government hospitals in the state's Bundelkhand region. The preliminary probe indicated an electrical short circuit as the reason for the fire.
In a statement, Deputy Chief Minister Brijesh Pathak dismissed reports of expired fire extinguishers at the medical college. "All firefighting equipment in the medical college was completely fine," he said.
Pathak added that a fire safety audit was carried out at the medical college in February and a mock drill was conducted in June.
Row over welcoming UP deputy CM to the hospital
Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak on Saturday condemned the elaborate arrangements made ahead of his visit to the fire-hit Jhansi hospital. The deputy CM directed the district magistrate to take strict action against the person who got the work done.
"Before I reached Jhansi Medical College, some person was laying lime powder on the roadside, which is very sad. I condemn this. And, I would ask the District Magistrate to identify the person, who got the work done, and take strong action against him," he said in a video message.
This comes after opposition criticised the government and alleged that the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College compound was cleaned and lime was sprinkled on the roads to welcome the deputy CM.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed the Divisional Commissioner of Jhansi and the deputy inspector general of police to submit a report on the incident within 12 hours.
The CM has announced an assistance of Rs 5 lakh each will be provided to the parents of the newborns who died in the incident and Rs 50,000 to the family of each of the injured.
PM Narendra Modi also announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted at the hospital on Saturday morning after parents of the injured children were not allowed to meet them. The parents were protesting outside the hospital after they were stopped from staging a road blockade.
