Global News Post: West Bengal

INDIA: Student Forced to Drink Urine for Wetting Bed

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">SANTINIKETAN, West Bengal, India (NNN-Bernama) -- An ill student was forced to drink her own urine by a hostel warden after wetting her bed "as treatment to stop the bad habit", Press Trust of India reported. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sources said the girl, a student of Patha Bhavan, a residential co-education primary and secondary school was ill and had wetted her bed the previous night. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the girl's mother rang up the warden on Sunday night to inquire about her daughter, the warden informed her that "the girl was fine but had wetted the bed the night before" and that she had "made her drink her own urine in the morning by wringing the bedsheet as a treatment to stop the bad habit". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The shocked parents, who live at Makrampur about five km from Santiniketan, rushed to the hostel at night accompanied by some people and brought the girl home. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The girl's father, Manoj Mistry, lodged a complaint with Bolpur police station late Sunday night alleging that his daughter was "forced to drink urine that was squeezed into her mouth from a wet bedsheet by the woman warden of Karabi girl's hostel". <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Concerned about the incident that occurred in a school under the prestigious Visva-Bharati University, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) had issued a show-cause notice to the varsity seeking an explanation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Visva-Bharati authorities on Sunday formed a four-member committee to look into the matter and said they would submit a report as soon as possible. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The University authorities have lodged a counter-complaint with the police for the "unauthorised entry" of the girl's family and other people into the hostel. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">An NCPCR spokesperson said in Delhi: "We are taking cognisance of the incident. We will certainly have to make sure that the people involved are taken to task." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Commission had already issued guidelines to states banning corporal punishment in schools, the spokesperson added. -- NNN-BERNAMA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
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INDIA: Student Forced to Drink Urine for Wetting Bed

SANTINIKETAN, West Bengal, India (NNN-Bernama) -- An ill student was forced to drink her own urine by a hostel warden after wetting her b...

West Bengal is Open for Private Universities: Mamata

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">KOLKATA (NNN-PTI): With the passage of a bill to set up three new universities, including a private one, in the state assembly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the education sector has now been thrown open to private universities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The road is now open for private sector universities to impart education," she wrote on her Facebook page while describing the day as "historic" as the legislative assembly has passed bills for setting up of three new universities in the state.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Under the bill, a private university, Techno India University, will be set up with campus at Salt Lake and Joka on the outskirts of the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"The three new universities will provide ample opportunities for the young generation to avail management, engineering and professional education in the state, instead of migrating to other states," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The state-aided universities include one at Cooch Behar district while another has been named Kazi Nazrul University which would come up at Asansol, close to the birth place of the rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the passage of another bill to provide 17 per cent reservation for Backward Classes and SC/ST, she said "it would bring a new era in the development and upliftment of Muslim brothers and sisters".<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">"A policy decision has also been taken to provide similar facilities for them in education," she added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Pointing out that the assembly has also cleared the West Bengal Panchayat Election Bill, 2012, which provides 50 per cent reservation for women, in elections, she said "we salute the women and stand for our solidarity with the mothers and sisters of Bengal". -NNN-PTI<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

West Bengal is Open for Private Universities: Mamata

KOLKATA (NNN-PTI): With the passage of a bill to set up three new universities, including a private one, in the state assembly, West Benga...

Hooch tragedy in West Bengal

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">By </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; text-decoration: none;"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/calcuttajourno" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> Shanthanu Bhattachaarya</a></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><b><span style="font-size: x-small;">  </span></b>  </span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHB_RnCtNp6tSYjD4qOuLjcCydyQUIZWVNBfoDK_cRPmJ_tEZFNh77EYGeevoGUivKbaiAXpGoMidjA7dK9QvP1NQ7doVlUIrId5lNtbrll_GoWau7bfnFu8GtKjSipSfih5JWweM50Y/s1600/hoochtragedy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHB_RnCtNp6tSYjD4qOuLjcCydyQUIZWVNBfoDK_cRPmJ_tEZFNh77EYGeevoGUivKbaiAXpGoMidjA7dK9QvP1NQ7doVlUIrId5lNtbrll_GoWau7bfnFu8GtKjSipSfih5JWweM50Y/s400/hoochtragedy.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: medium; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 8pt;"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/includes/ajax/image_popup.php?image=2943164&image_id=1"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Photo © Arun lodh</span></a></span></i> </td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><a href="http://www.groundreport.com/World/Hooch-tragedy-in-Bengal/2943164"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;">Ground Report</span></a>: Illicit liquor deaths reach 173 in <st1:place w:st="on">Bengal</st1:place>. Excessive use of methanol, a poisonous substance had found in viscera from most of the bodies. People from about 10 villages in Mograhat of South 24 pgs district had drank the illicit liquor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Political patronage, inaction of police, excise department and easy availability are the main reasons behind the mushrooming of illicit liquor dens in rural and urban areas of <st1:place w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:place>. Illicit liquor traders often bribe police and excise officials to run their their business. They often mix poisonous substance to increase their sale. Though police and excise demolished illicit liquor dens, people are skeptical about the long time effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><br />
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75 people are still undergoing treatment at the Diamond Harbour Sub divisional Hospital, MR Bangur and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Vidyasagar</st1:placename>  <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The state government led by Mamata Banarjee announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the family of the deceased. Experts believe that the state government should increase the number of incensed liquor shops to prevent the increasing of illicit liquor dens.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

Hooch tragedy in West Bengal

By Shanthanu Bhattachaarya Photo © Arun lodh Ground Report : Illicit liquor deaths reach 173 in Bengal . Excessive use of metha...

India: West Bengal Hooch Tragedy-Death Toll Rises to 160

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';">KOLKATA, </span><st1:country-region style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on">India</st1:country-region><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> (NNN-BSS)--Death toll in </span><st1:place style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';" w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:place><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"> hooch tragedy has mounted to 160 following nineteen more deaths.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The incident occurred on Wednesday when more than hundred fell ill after consuming illicit liquor in Sangrampur area in South 24 Parganas District.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Among the dead were mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers from 10 villages in Mograhat and Sangrampur under the Usthi police station about 40 km from Kolkata.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">Earlier, the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:place> state government announced compensation of Rs two lakh each to the families of the victims.(One Lakh:100,000)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said stringent action would be taken to prevent the sale of illicit liquor, with an aim to prevent such unfortunate incidents from reoccurring.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">The initial probe revealed that the tragedy occurred as the locals consumed methyl alcohol.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It was discovered that there were approximately 15 such units, manufacturing country made liquor in the block. -- NNN-BSS<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: West Bengal Hooch Tragedy-Death Toll Rises to 160

KOLKATA, India (NNN-BSS)--Death toll in West Bengal hooch tragedy has mounted to 160 following nineteen more deaths. The incident occurr...

Death Toll Rises to 81 in Indian Hospital Fire

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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><st1:city w:st="on"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">NEW DELHI</span></span></st1:city><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"> (NNN-Xinhua) -- The death toll from the massive fire Friday which turned a hospital building into a chimney in the eastern Indian city of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Kolkata</st1:place></st1:city> has risen to 81, said media reports.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">In what is described as the worst fire tragedy in any hospital in India, 78 patients and three staffers were killed, mostly suffocating to death, in poisonous thick smoke in Kolkata's well- known AMRI private hospital, said the reports.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">"The victims mostly got suffocated from the fumes," Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim told the media.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">The fire which broke out at dawn from a basement trapped 160 patients, including 50 critically ill, in the seven-storied air- conditioned building.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Throughout the day, patients, some dead and others barely alive, were brought out by fire fighters, while desperate relatives blamed the state and hospital administration for slowness in the rescue operation, said the Indo-Asian News Service.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;">Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief and announced compensation of 200,000 rupees (4,000 U.S. dollars) each to the families of those killed.--NNN-XINHUA<o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div>

Death Toll Rises to 81 in Indian Hospital Fire

NEW DELHI (NNN-Xinhua) -- The death toll from the massive fire Friday which turned a hospital building into a chimney in the eastern In...

India: Over 70 Killed In Kolkata Hospital Fire, 'Owners Missing'

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span>  </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">KOLKATA (NNN-AGENCIES): A firefighter smashes glass windows of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">AMRI</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place> nursing home as he searches for survivors after a fire broke out in Kolkata.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">At least 70 patients suffocated to death when a massive fire broke out in a centrally-airconditioned seven-storey private hospital in the metropolis today. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Police and hospital sources said 70 people had died in the fire at the private 190-bed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">AMRI</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype></st1:place> at Dhakuria in related stories<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Earlier, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said 41 of the bodies had been brought to the state-run <st1:placename w:st="on">SSKM</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Hospital</st1:placetype> in <st1:place w:st="on">South Kolkata</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"Twenty other bodies are still there in an upper floor of the AMRI hospital," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Of the bodies taken to SSKM, autopsies have been completed on 36. "Twelve have been identified," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The chief minister said the colour photos of the faces of the unidentified victims will be displayed outside the SSKM morgue.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"After identification, we will send the bodies in hearses to their homes."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">On the basis of a first information report (FIR) lodged by the fire brigade, police had started a criminal case against the hospital management. "They will be arrested. We will take strict action against the hospital," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">However, sources said that the top management of the hospital has already gone underground.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Banerjee also promised Rs.3 lakh if family members of the victims, who are not well-off, made an appeal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"If anybody appeals for a government job. We will also try to help them out."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">This is the worst incident of fire in the history of <st1:place w:st="on">Bengal</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The hospital authorities have issued a press statement saying that they would pay Rs 2 lakh to the family of the deceased.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Many more are believed to be trapped in the building, even as firemen, who many complained had reached the spot only after two hours, brought out the dead and injured using ropes and ladders.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The fire broke out around 3.30am in the basement of the hospital annexe. Co-founded by the Emami & Shrachi Groups along with the <st1:place w:st="on">West  Bengal</st1:place> government in 1996, the hospital is located in the congested Dhakuria locality.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"The victims mostly got suffocated from the fumes. Many of them were in a serious condition in the ICU," <st1:place w:st="on">West Bengal</st1:place> urban development minister Firhad Hakim said, adding that some firemen fell unconscious due to the fumes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"The father of one of my friends was admitted in one of the upper floors. When he heard I am at the spot he called up his son and told him to ask me to rescue him. I could not do anything. I saw his burnt body," said the minister who reached the spot early.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">There are around 200 beds in the affected block.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"At the time of the fire, there were 160 patients, including around 40-50, in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Eighty percent have been rescued," a hospital spokesman said. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Fire services minister Javed Khan, who is supervising the rescue operations, said: "Some more people are believed to have been trapped. We have already rescued over 50 people." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">An officer manning the city police control room said the fire spread fast and engulfed four floors of the building. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"The fire is under control but yet to be doused completely. My men are putting out fire in one spot only to find another area in flames. There is a lot of combustible material," said Khan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Alleging that the firefighting was hindered due to lack of cooperation from the hospital authorities, a local resident said: "We were not allowed to enter early in the morning. Had we been allowed, more lives could have been saved."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">The hospital has two other blocks in the complex where some of the patients rescued from the affected block have been transferred.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Around 25 fire engines had been rushed to the spot. The fire fighters were seen using hydraulic ladders to rescue the patients and office staffs by cutting open the glasses with gas cutters.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">A patient in his 50s admitted in the second floor of the affected building said he was brought down by breaking the glass windows. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"Around 4 a.m. when I had gone to the toilet I heard nurses saying that a portion of the building has caught fire. But they did not help me. Finally along with some other patients I came near a window. Then the fire brigade personnel came and rescued me by breaking open the glass windows."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"I tried to bring all my medical papers but they slipped out of my hands. I have lost them," said the sobbing patient.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Another patient said: "There was smoke. I helped many of the patients come out of their wards. But I could not bring out two seriously ill patients."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Hundreds of relatives of the patients admitted in the hospital were seen weeping and pleading with the firemen and disaster management personnel for news of their dear ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">"We came to the hospital at the crack of dawn when we got to hear of the fire from television. We don't know what has happened to our family member," said a patient's relative.-NNN-AGENCIES<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

India: Over 70 Killed In Kolkata Hospital Fire, 'Owners Missing'

KOLKATA (NNN-AGENCIES): A firefighter smashes glass windows of the AMRI Hospital nursing home as he searches for survivors after a fir...