Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Monday ordered a judicial probe into the deadly blaze at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, which claimed the lives of 10 patients.
Retired district judge Laxmidhar Biswal will conduct the inquiry and submit his report within 60 days from the date of the notification’s publication in the Odisha Gazette.
“The state government is deeply concerned about this matter of serious public importance,” states an official notification issued by the Home (Special Section) Department, by the order of the Governor, and signed by Additional Chief Secretary Hemant Sharma.
“The Headquarters of the Commission shall be at Cuttack. However, the Commission may hold the Inquiry at any other place as may be considered necessary for the purpose of inquiry,” the notification further said.
Biswal will look into the following aspects:
* Analysis of the sequence of events that led to the unfortunate fire incident at the Trauma Care ICU of Shrirama Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital, Cuttack on March 16;
* The role, conduct and accountability of person(s)/authorities in this tragic incident;
* The state of preparedness of the Hospital and other agencies in dealing with such eventualities;
* Whether the steps taken before and after the incident were adequate and effective to save the lives of the patients and others;
* Recommendations on steps to be taken to avoid recurrence of such events in future.
Earlier in the day, Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi set up a six-member fact-finding team to investigate the tragic fire.
