Other States - Orissa   

Defunct system at hospitals adds to their woes

BHUBANESWAR: “We had come to seek blessing of Lord Jagannath. What went wrong and why were we handed over such a tragedy?” bemoaned sexagenarian Bhaunri Bai who lost her husband over a thousand-kilometre distance away from her village.

Bhaunri Bai’s husband Ratan Lal was the passenger of the ill-fated bus of Madhya Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (MPRTC) that caught fire here at Kalpana Square on Monday morning leaving at least four persons dead and 35 injured.

It was the 10th day of pilgrimage for as many as 67 villagers of Rajasthan-bordering Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh. They were to spend 11-days more on this pious trip.

Bhaunri Bai was speechless and sometime crying inconsolably near the accident site. Most of her co-passengers were running helter-skelter to find out the conditions of their near and dear ones in an alien land. However, the lucky survivors had lost all their belongings as the bus was fully gutted in fire. A very few of them could retrieve their valuables they had been carrying.

These passengers had left Puri in the morning and their last stoppage was at Sakshi Gopal.

They were looking for the next water source to have their breakfast on Monday before moving on for another holy place. However, the destiny had other ideas.

At hospital, more agonising moments were waiting for them. Though police showed some extra urgency to shift injured tourists to Capital Hospital, the premier government health centre appeared to be not ready to cope with the situation.

Rush of media persons, presence of large number of police personnel and visit of a few ministers of the state added to their woes.

Women and elderly pilgrims with severe burn injuries were made to sit on the hospital verandah while fans were hanging defunct.

After one hour when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reached the spot, he immediately pointed out defunct system and expressed dissatisfaction over the poor state-of-affairs.

As hospital had no special burns wards, the victims with severe injuries were rushed to SCB Medical College Hospital at Cuttack.

Some 65 villagers of Laxmanpura, Hinotia, Zeerapur and Dundahedi of Madhya Pradesh had deposited about Rs. 4,000 each with the bus operator who in turn cared little to adopt safety measures. Eyewitnesses said though spark from engine battery led to fire, a big jar containing kerosene helped spread the flame within no time.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

4 killed as bus catches fire
Diarrhoea breaks out in Rayagada
Quiz contest held
Bystanders go to victims’ rescue
Defunct system at hospitals adds to their woes
Review meet on developmental projects
Tribals hold armed demonstration
NIST workshop
Man dies in accident
Normalcy yet to be restored in Kandhamal

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu