UP notifies panel to probe Gorakhpur tragedy, report in 5 days

The Uttar Pradesh government late on Monday night formed a committee headed by Chief Secretary Rajeev Kumar to probe the death of children at the Baba Raghav Das (BRD) Medical College in Gorakhpur over the past one week.

Notification of the committee has been issued by the state government. The panel has been mandated to complete its investigation within five days and submit a report to the Chief Minister on August 19.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had two days back announced formation of such a committee.

The points of reference of this high-powered committee include the incident involving death of children, including infants, the background in which it happened, reasons and causes behind the deaths, fixing responsibility and accountability of people for the tragedy, propose action against such errant officials and employees, and recommendations -- both immediate and long term -- so that such incidents are not repeated in future.

Members of this committee include Alok Kumar, Health Secretary; Mukesh Mittal, Finance Secretary; and Dr Hem Chandra, Medical Superintendent of the Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI), Lucknow.

More than 60 innocent lives have been lost at the BRD Medical College in a week allegedly due to disruption of liquid oxygen supply.

The state government has denied disruption of liquid oxygen supply as the reason for deaths and sacked two senior officials of the hospital, including the Principal and the in-charge of the Encephalitis Ward.

--IANS

md/nir