Cuttack: The fact-finding committee formed by the state govt to probe the circumstances surrounding the March 16 blaze at the trauma ICU visited the site again on Thursday to carry forward its investigation.The six-member fact-finding committee, led by development commissioner (DC) Deoranjan Kumar Singh, health secretary Aswathy S and Cuttack collector Dattatraya Bhausaheb Shinde, inspected the trauma ICU, examining the electrical systems, fire safety infrastructure and overall emergency response mechanisms in place at the time of the incident. It took nearly 30 minutes.Asked about the purpose of the visit, DC Deoranjan Singh said investigation was in progress and it would not be appropriate to comment on any aspect of it right now.The visit comes a day after four officials — deputy fire officer (Cuttack circle) Prakash Kumar Jena; assistant fire officer (Cuttack circle), Sanjeeb Kumar Behera; station officer, SCB Medical College and Hospital, Abhinab Prusty; and assistant executive engineer Ranjan Kumar Biswal of the SCB sub-division under general electrical department — were suspended by chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi based on the preliminary report of the fact-finding committee.BJD, however, criticised the suspensions. Party leader and its newly elected RS MP Santrupt Misra, who visited the trauma ICU on Thursday, said it is sad that four junior govt officials were suspended, but those who should be held accountable for such an incident, including the health minister, health secretary and even the hospital superintendent-in-charge, are not facing any action, nor do they have the moral responsibility to resign.But BJP spokesperson Manoj Mahapatra said Misra must realise that electrical or fire system faults at SCB did not happen in a day. “This incident is a fallout of years of negligence towards the state’s biggest govt hospital, and our govt is working to preventing any such incidents in future,” he said.Earlier on Wednesday, law minister Prithviraj Harichandan said the fact-finding team had been asked to submit its report at the earliest, which would recommend corrective measures in fire safety, among other things, to prevent such incidents in future.
