JOIN USTwo employees of the same hospital were also arrested on the charge of assaulting mediapersons following a surprise visit by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to the hospital as the fire services submitted a preliminary report to the state government on how the fire spread in the Annexe-1 building, killing 93 people.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen said S Upadhyay, senior vice-president and safety committee chairman as well as Sanjib Pal, administrative officer of the hospital were arrested and produced before the court which remanded them to police custody till December 23.
Earlier, seven directors of the hospital were arrested and were mainly charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder and negligence and were remanded to police custody till December 20.
Another arrested director R S Agarwal was not produced before the court as he has been admitted to hospital and would appear before the court after being discharged.
Staff members scuffled with journalists at the hospital premises alleging that they were showing the hospital in bad light leading to the arrest of two of the members. The two will be produced before the court on Wednesday, said the police.
The journalists had gone to cover Banerjee’s surprise visit in the morning to the hospital and were beaten up after she left the premises.
Banerjee was greeted with angry protests from AMRI employees fearing loss of jobs due to cancellation of the hospital’s licence after the fire tragedy.
But she scoffed at them saying they do not have any regret even after so many lives were lost in the incident. “What can I do if their jobs are lost ? It is the responsibility of the hospital administration,” she said.
The chief minister also announced that jobs would be given in the Green Police unit to the locals who had taken part in rescue operations during Friday’s devastating fire at AMRI Hospital.
Banerjee gave away a medal and Rs 5,000 to each of the 65 youths, who live in the Panchanantala slum behind the hospital premises in South Kolkata. Civic police volunteers, known as Green Police, assist the Kolkata Traffic Police in traffic management.
Regarding the formation of a judicial commission which was announced by her, the chief minister said “I am looking for a judge to head the commission.” The Director General of Fire Services’ preliminary report has said that the fire originated in the basement where inflammatory articles and PVC pipes were kept, asphyxiating 93 people to death.
The report also mentioned that the deaths were due to suffocation caused by smoke and none was burnt, Minister of Fire Services and Disaster Management Javed Khan told reporters.
Disaster Management department secretary Indivar Pandey has deposited Rs 2.7 crore to the police for paying compensation to the families of the victims killed in the tragedy on December 9, he added.