A political war has now ensued over the Jhansi Hospital fire tragedy, which claimed the lives of 10 infants on Friday. The Congress has targeted the Yogi Adityanath government, accusing it of focusing more on "hatred" than on public welfare.
Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai said on Saturday, "I express my condolences to the families affected. Several such incidents have occurred in Uttar Pradesh. This happened in Varanasi, too. This government is ordering only investigations. Yogi Adityanath is going across the country and engaging in politics of hatred."
"The people of Uttar Pradesh have entrusted him to look after them and help them. But that is not happening. There's only politics of hatred. People are being harassed; work is not being done. This government is being run by officers only... The Uttar Pradesh government and CM Yogi Adityanath are responsible for this incident."
Reacting to the state government's decision to grant Rs 5 lakh compensation to the families of the deceased, Ajay Rai said money doesn't hold any value when lives have been lost. "People go to hospitals for the safety of health. But they are unsafe in the hospitals," he said.
As many as 10 newborns died at Jhansi Medical College, where a massive fire broke out in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) on Friday night. The cause of the fire is being investigated. But a suspected short-circuit is believed to have sparked the blaze. Hospital authorities said that the fire spread too quickly, preventing full evacuation of the NICU ward. However, they managed to save 47 kids.
Meanwhile, the UP government launched an investigation into the incident. Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said that anyone found guilty of negligence would not be spared.