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Maharashtra: 5 die in Yavatmal after drinking sanitiser in the absence of alcohol

OpIndia Staff
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Maharashtra: 5 die in Yavatmal after drinking sanitiser in the absence of alcohol

At least five people have died after drinking alcohol-based sanitiser after they could not get alcohol because of a strict lockdown underway in Maharashtra.

The incident took place in the village of Wani that is located in the Yavatmal district. According to the relatives, the men drank sanitiser to quench their addiction to alcohol.

The mayor of Wani Tarendra Borde confirmed the news stating that 5 men had died in his village after drinking sanitiser. The deceased have been identified as Datta Lanjewar, Nutan Patharatkar, Ganesh Nandekar, Santosh Meher and Sunil Dhengale. 

Datta Lanjewar (47) drank sanitiser around 9 pm last night (April 23) and later started having chest pains at 10 pm when he came home. He was later rushed to Wani Rural Hospital but died during his treatment. Another man who consumed sanitiser for satiating his alcohol addiction complained of unease and was taken to the rural hospital for treatment. He, too, died, in the wee hours of April 24. Similarly, three other deaths were reported after they had consumed sanitiser in place of alcohol.

The bodies were sent to a rural hospital for postmortem. The relatives of the deceased informed the doctors at Wani Rural Hospital that their kin started having spasms of pain after drinking sanitiser.

There have been many incidents in the past when addicts have taken to sanitiser to slake their alcohol addiction. In July 2020, 10 people died in Andhra Pradesh after consuming hand sanitiser because of the unavailability of alcohol.

Maharashtra government imposes strict lockdown to curb the surging COVID-19 cases

The Maharashtra government on Wednesday night announced strict restrictions in the state due to a huge surge in the cases of COVID-19 cases. The state government has also issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the curbs.

In its new order, the state government permitted all groceries, vegetable shops, fruit vendors, dairies, bakeries, confectionaries, all type of food shops (including chicken, mutton, poultry, fish and eggs), shops related to agricultural implements and farm produce, pet food shops, shops related to materials for impending rainy season for individuals as well as for organisations to be open only between 7 am to 11 am.

What does an Indian liberal do with the money they get for writing tragedy porn?

Abhishek Banerjee
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What does an Indian liberal do with the money they get for writing tragedy porn?

The greatest thing in the world is sitting in India and getting paid in US dollars. This is why outsourcing works. While a dollar won’t even get you a measly hamburger in the US, seventy-five rupees goes a long way in India. If you started getting paid in dollars tomorrow, what would you do? How would you celebrate?

Right now, there is tremendous demand in global media such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, TIME magazine etc to show India’s misery as our nation grapples with the second wave of the Coronavirus. In the United States, the virus has claimed close to 600,000 lives already and continues to claim nearly 700 lives a day. In France, the country with supposedly the best healthcare system in the world, the virus has already claimed over 100,000 lives.

Make no mistake. Western egos are badly bruised. China has shown them up. The virus began in China, but Western leaders were powerless to call out the Chinese government. Also, China brought the pandemic under control very quickly. Their GDP actually expanded in 2020, while western economies struggled with contractions of 8-10%. If there was ever a tipping point in the decline of the west since the high point at the end of the cold war, this would have to be it.

How will they make up for this loss of ego? It will come from relishing the misfortunes of India. That is why you see American liberal journos sharing “stunning” images of mass cremations in India. They are in luck because cremations make for more compelling imagery than burials. It may be worth knowing that hundreds of dead bodies of those who died in New York in the spring of 2020 were stowed into freezer trucks and left in a corner of Brooklyn. This ghastly fleet of death trucks remained parked in plain sight until the Wall Street Journal found them in an “exclusive” as late as November. Both the liberal elite and the larger public must have been aware of such horrors at some level.

Who is meeting the resulting demand for stories of misery from India? We know the names of the usual suspects. We also know that these are not really reported. Because they contain very little information that is not already in the public domain. This is tragedy porn, written for a mostly white audience to engage in self-stimulation. And before you get angry at their average reader, understand that those readers are victims too. Their elected leaders have failed to save them from the coronavirus and failed to stand up to China. They are now feeding them tragedy porn to calm their anger. If anyone is profiteering from this, it is the racket of global publications like the New York Times and TIME magazine. And some of this gets passed on to their contractors in India.

This brings me back to those getting paid in dollars sitting in India. Have you ever wondered what any of these people do when the remittance hits their bank account? Well, the responsible thing to do would be to invest it in a mutual fund (no, this is not native advertising). But I suspect they will do something more reckless, something that people are prone to do with fast and easy money.

Do they call their friends over to celebrate? Perhaps a private dinner with family and close friends at a restaurant where each item costs a month of your salary? They have those, you know. Super exclusive restaurants open secretly for the super-rich despite the pandemic. It’s happening all over Paris right now. Do you think the same is not happening in any big Indian city? Come on, the police have targets to meet…

Well, these days it is a bit dangerous to socialize. So maybe they splurge on expensive clothes, makeup or perfume. Maybe put down some money towards that flashy car or high-performance motorcycle they have always admired? Or maybe it goes towards a vacation fund. One of these days, the pandemic will be over. And then, the south of France or the beaches of Hawaii will beckon.

I am not saying any of these things are wrong. I am just telling you to imagine what their incentives might be.

Also, how do they land their writing contracts at a big publication such as TIME or the Washington Post? I have no idea, so I can only speculate. Are these articles commissioned in advance, or do they send the word out via email and Whatsapp, inviting bids? How do these contractors differentiate their products from each other? Presumably, the more garish the article, the more the shock value, the higher the asking price, right? Imagine the thrill that would come with getting your essay accepted into the New York Times for what I am assuming is a few thousand dollars at least. Imagine them checking their bank account anxiously for the next few days. And the satisfaction when they finally see the SMS on their shiny new iPhone. Amount deposited.

Now think about them writing their future essays. Should you call the Indian system “inefficient” or “horribly inefficient”? Well, that’s easy. At say $2 per word, you would get an additional $2 or about Rs 150 extra for calling the Indian system “horribly inefficient” instead of just “inefficient.” Calling PM Modi a “dictator” gets you only $2, but calling him “right-wing majoritarian fascist dictator” gets you as much as $10!

Pro-tip: Always refer to him by his full name, Narendra Modi, instead of just Modi. That’s $2 extra each time.

Extra pro-tip: See if the New York Times will accept Narendra Damodardas Modi.

There are multiple lessons here for the taking, but let me present at least two. First, if you ever thought that US President or Canadian PM were on the side of the people of India, the joke is on you. These people won’t even release the raw materials necessary for Indians to have vaccines. Like they would give a damn if Delhi police sprayed some people with water cannon around the approaches of Delhi. How many European parliaments are discussing how to help India during the Covid crisis like they supposedly did for “farmers” of Punjab? I am guessing zero. Oh wait, the so-called farmer protests were a humanitarian crisis. Unlike Covid, I suppose.

Turns out that our internal affairs are our own after all and nobody else cares about them. Now that we agree, how about we ask what was their real agenda when they were backing the protests between December and March? A few months ago, the global media was inviting people everywhere to see the “largest protests in the world.” Now they are inviting everyone to see India’s skyrocketing Covid numbers and enjoying all the same. By the way, their same contractors got paid writing by writing articles in praise of the so-called farmer protests. They made money both coming and going.

The other lesson, of course, is that this is all about politics. The governor of New York deliberately hid some 6000 Covid deaths in nursing homes. But that governor was a liberal. And liberals had an election to win in the US. And so the New York Times could not see any of the bodies. They could not even see the trucks full of dead bodies parked near the Brooklyn waterfront. The Wall Street Journal only found these trucks on Nov 22. The election had already happened in the first week of November. See how it all worked out perfectly for the liberals?

But just as the liberal elite had an axe to grind in the US, they now have one in India. They need to get India’s current Prime Minister out of office. And that is why nobody can hide dead bodies either in Amdavad or in Lucknow right now. Unlike New York, the media is scouring these cities, looking for ways to “speak truth to power.”

Union govt had asked states to grant permission to industrial oxygen producers to produce medical oxygen in the first week of April 2020

OpIndia Staff
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Union govt had asked states to grant permission to industrial oxygen producers to produce medical oxygen in the first week of April 2020

To meet the very high demand for medical oxygen due to the surging Covid-19 cases, the union government had taken proactive action in the first week of April 2020, before oxygen shortages started to appear in several hospitals mostly in Delhi.

On 6th April, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) had organised a meeting of stakeholders involved in the production of medical oxygen in the country, including the All India Industrial Gases Manufacturers Association (AIIGMA) and Drugs Controller General of India. In the meeting chaired by the union minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal, it was decided that manufacturers of industrial oxygen will be granted permission to produce medical oxygen within 24 hours of receiving such application.

The proposal was made by AIIGMA president Saket Tiku, who said that a similar exercise has been started in Germany where industrial oxygen is being converted into medical oxygen. DPIIT discussed the suggestion with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and on the very next day on 7th April 2020, an order was issued to grant permission to industrial oxygen manufacturers to manufacture oxygen for medical use.

The order said, “premises which are having the facility to manufacture industrial oxygen should be granted manufacturing license to manufacture medical oxygen for medical use within 24 hours of the receiving the application, fees etc. as per the Drugs & Cosmetic Act,1940 & rules thereunder and undertaking in writing to manufacture the medical oxygen”.

DGCI letter to states and UTs on oxygen production

The order was immediately sent to the drug controllers of all the states and union territories so that it can be implemented as soon as possible to ensure the supply of medical oxygen from industrial oxygen producers.

Accordingly, a large number of industrial oxygen manufacturers have started manufacturing medical oxygen, and it has helped in increasing the supply of medical oxygen for the treatment of critical Covid-19 patients. Apart from Delhi, which is facing an acute shortage as it is entirely dependent on supply from other states, the supply of the gas has seen improvement in the last few days. However, as the demand also keep rising due to the increasing number of new cases per day, some hospitals in other states also face shortages now and then.

The central government has taken several other initiatives to meet the growing demand of medical oxygen, and to transport it from the production sites to medical facilities where it is needed. The Union Railway Ministry has started the Oxygen Express service, which is carrying road tankers on the rail wagons. Indian Air Force has also stepped in to use its transport aircraft to carry oxygen tankers, along with other medical equipment and drugs. Moreover, it has been decided that oxygen generation plants will be installed at 100 hospitals across the country using the PM CARES fund. The govt has also taken steps to import 50000 MT of oxygen to bridge the demand-supply gap while production of medical oxygen in the country increases.

Delhi Police resurrects the idle plant in Mundka to address oxygen demand in hospitals: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Police resurrects the idle plant in Mundka to address oxygen demand in hospitals: Details

With the oxygen crisis in hospitals around Delhi becoming grim, the Delhi Police personnel on Friday stepped up the efforts to help hospitals procure medicinal oxygen. The officials not only assisted in helping hospitals get oxygen cylinders in time but also helped resurrect an idle oxygen plant in West Delhi’s Mundka.

The police found that Shri Shyam Gas was nonfunctional for the want of medicinal oxygen. On the directions of senior police officers, SHO Mundka on Thursday moved to revive the plant and joined forces with West District’s nodal coordinator (revenue) for oxygen supply.

A team of police officers proactively traced down the owner of the plant and instructed him to start the plant, providing him with sufficient manpower to run the operations at the plant and ensure oxygen supply to hospitals.

Besides, the Delhi Police also teamed up with the revenue team to bring a 10 MT oxygen tanker from Panipat. The plant became functional by 3 am on April 23, and over 95 cylinders were refilled and sent to many hospitals, including Neo Sehgal, Mansa Ram, Maharaja Agrasen, DDU, Park and Rathi Hospital.

As of now, the plant is still functional and more than 50 hospitals across the Delhi NCR region are benefitting from its services.

In addition, several teams of Delhi Police have been helping the hospitals with their oxygen need round the clock. A team of North District police responded to Tirath Ram Hospital’s distress call. They contacted an oxygen supplier of Bawana and two teams created a green corridor for the swift supply of oxygen. The hospital was provided with 33 oxygen cylinders within a short span of time.

Cops also helped Life Line Hospital, Laxmi Nagar, located in the East District, where 70 patients were on active oxygen and ventilator support. Likewise, the Delhi Police officials also helped Bhagwati Hospital with 65 oxygen cylinders. Teams of Delhi Police provided a green corridor for the movement of an oxygen tanker containing 12 tonnes of oxygen for different hospitals.

Furthermore, a green corridor for the supply of oxygen to Santom Hospital and Rajiv Gandhi Hospital was also created. 33 oxygen cylinders were arranged for Santom Hospital, and 40 cylinders were provided to Oncoplus Hospital in South Delhi. Jeewan Mala Hospital, located in Central Delhi, was provided with 53 oxygen cylinders.

Arvind Kejriwal set up only 1 out of 8 oxygen plants for which Modi govt sanctioned funds through PM CARES in December 2020: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Arvind Kejriwal set up only 1 out of 8 oxygen plants for which Modi govt sanctioned funds through PM CARES in December 2020: Details

Yesterday, with folded hands and a sombre voice, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ‘make few phone calls’ to some states and solve the National Capital’s Oxygen emergency.

While Arvind Kejriwal continues to play politics over the crisis, Union Health Ministry informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that the central government had sanctioned funds from PM CARES Fund to Kejriwal Government in December 2020 to set up eight PSA (Pressure Swing Absorption) oxygen plants in Delhi. However, since December, only one such plant has been set up by the Kejriwal govt.

The Delhi HC, in turn, slammed both the Delhi government and the central government due to the oxygen crisis in the National Capital.

The HC order stated that the Central govt officer Nipun Vinayak pointed out that two hospitals in Delhi namely, Satyawadi Raja Harish Chandra Hospital and Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College & Safdarjung Hospital have not yet provided the site clearance where the PSA plant can be installed. Two hospitals have now been provided with the site clearance and the equipment is likely to be installed on April 30.

Excerpt of the Delhi HC court order

The court ordered that the remaining hospitals must comply with the central government scheme immediately. HC ordered that the compliance report must be submitted in the next hearing.

It added that the “central government should review the allocation of oxygen on a day to day basis so that its utilization is achieved in the most efficient manner”.

It is pertinent to note that the Delhi HC had convened to hold an urgent hearing amidst a shortage of oxygen after Max Hospital Patparganj moved the Court saying that they were on dangerously low levels of oxygen supply. The Delhi High Court had asked the centre to ‘beg, borrow or steal’ oxygen to provide for medical purposes.

The Court said if procuring oxygen from the industries means that those industries have to be shut down for the time being, let them be. “We cannot afford to lose lives. That is the bottom line,” said the Court.

Arvind Kejriwal peddles lies during a meeting with the Prime Minister

While hospitals in Delhi has been facing the most serious shortage of oxygen due to surge in Covid-19 cases, and CM Arvind Kejriwal has been talking about the shortage for the last few days, it has emerged that he never talked to the centre about it before the meeting that was held yesterday. In the review meeting of CMs chaired by the PM on the Covid-19 situation, the Delhi CM talked about the Oxygen Express initiative of the Indian Railways to transport oxygen, but a statement by the Indian railways reveals that Delhi has not approached the railways for the same yet.

According to a statement issued by the railways, Maharashtra Government had approached the Ministry of Railways on 15th April to explore the feasibility of transporting Liquid Medical Oxygen tankers by rail from various locations across the country to supply points in Maharashtra, after which the ministry had started the exercise on a war footing to immediately explore options, work out the modalities and prepare a plan for the movement of tankers.

After the detailed planning and sourcing of suitable wagons and tankers, the first Oxygen Express started moving from Vizag to Mumbai on 19th April. Railways had constructed ramps in just 24 hours to load and unload the road tankers on the train wagons. After the first transport of oxygen tankers by train from Vizag to Mumbai, other states also came forward with the request for the same.

According to the railways, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh have sent requests to transport oxygen tankers, and Madhya Pradesh has also expressed interest. There is no mention of any request received from the Delhi govt in the statement issued the day before.

As NDTV journalist and others rejoice at the fake news, Baba Ramdev rubbishes claims of a COVID-19 outbreak at Patanjali

OpIndia Staff
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As NDTV journalist and others rejoice at the fake news, Baba Ramdev rubbishes claims of a COVID-19 outbreak at Patanjali

On Thursday (April 22), several mainstream media reports claimed that about 83 people were diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus at institutions run by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev.

HW news network alleged that about 83 staff members of Baba Ramdev-run-Patanjali Ayurved tested positive for Coronavirus infection. It went on to claim that 46 of them worked in Patanjali Yoga Peeth, 9 in Acharyakulam, and 28 in Yoga Grams. HW further claimed that the infected individuals had been isolated in the Patanjali complex in Haridwar and that Baba Ramdev could be tested for the Wuhan Coronavirus.

Screengrab of the report by HW network

Similar such claims were made by the Hindi edition of News 18. While quoting Chief Medical Officer (Haridwar) Dr Sambhu Jha, News 18 reiterated that about 83 people had been diagnosed with the Wuhan Coronavirus since April 10.

Screengrab of News18 report

Baba Ramdev rubbishes claims about the outbreak of Coronavirus at Patanjali Ayurved

Following the sensational Covid-19 figures presented by mainstream media reports, Yogi Adityanath took to Twitter to issue a clarification in the matter. In a tweet on Friday (April 23), he said, “There is no Covid-infected patient at Patanjali. There were new patients who had come to IPD and new students who had come for admission in Acharyakulam. We had tested them under the Coronavirus protocols. Out of them, only 14 people were found positive. We did not allow their entry inside the main campus.”

Baba Ramdev further added, “Everything other than the facts stated above is rumour and false. I do a live programme every day on yoga and health from 5 am to 10 am.” It must be mentioned that IPD is a part of Patanjali Ayurveda Hospital which is attached with the Patanjali Ayurveda College.

Usual suspects rejoice after fake news surfaces, take potshots at Baba Ramdev

Following the news that 83 staffers of Baba Ramdev fell ill due to Coronavirus infection, the known usual suspects took to Twitter to rejoice over it. They took potshots at the Yoga Guru for supposedly failing to cure the infected patients with his herbal immunity booster named Coronil.

Journalist at the left-propagandist channel NDTV, Gargi Rawat wrote, “oh no… all that Coronil and still they got infected? May it doesn’t really protect you?”

Screengrab of the tweet

Times Now journalist Nikunj Garg inquired, “They should be treated with coronil…right?”

Tweet by Times Now journalist

Politician Priyanka Chaturvedi, who defected to the Shiv Sena from the Congress, tweeted, “Just hope all of them are fine and at the same time Patanjali stop selling Coronil as the answer to Covid cure immediately.”

Tweet by Shiv Sena politician Priyanka Chaturvedi

Despite the fact that only 14 individuals tested positive and all such misleading news stories have been debunked, neither of them have chosen to post an update or clarification. It thus becomes increasingly clear that the left-liberal cabal will continue to resort to vulture politics and mock indigenous alternate herbal supplement of Baba Ramdev to settle political scores.

NDTV journalist casts aspersion on Modi govt transporting oxygen tankers via train: Here are the facts that they forgot to consider

OpIndia Staff
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NDTV journalist casts aspersion on Modi govt transporting oxygen tankers via train: Here are the facts that they forgot to consider

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has left many states grappling with essential health infrastructure. From a shortage of oxygen to ventilators to critical drugs, states are working in tandem with the Centre to rebuild the state health infrastructure to tackle the surge in cases at the earliest. Amidst several initiatives by the Centre, the Railway Ministry has assured aid by running ‘Oxygen Express’ trains for the quick transportation of liquid medical oxygen and oxygen cylinders across the country after several states reported a shortage.

On the 18th of April, just 5 days ago, the Railway Ministry had issued a press release to share the details. According to the statement, empty tankers were set to begin their journey from Kalamboli and Boisar railway stations near Mumbai on 19th April to load liquid medical oxygen from Vizag, Jamshedpur, Rourkela and Bokaro.

On the morning of 24th April, NDTV journalist Saket Upadhyay took to Twitter to say that he refuses to be an Oxygen Express ‘cheerleader’ because the entire excise, he believed, was a PR stunt.

He said that one Oxygen Express left Mumbai on the 19th of April at 8:05 PM and reached Vizag on the 22nd of April at 4:15 AM. The insinuation was that the Oxygen Express was not serving its purpose because it was an extremely slow exercise.

Per Saket Upadhyay’s tweet, the Oxygen Express took a little over 2 days to reach Vizag from Mumbai and for him, that was a little too slow. While people are dying, any help that is to travel across the country could certainly seem slow, however, if Saket Upadhyay was indeed a journalist, he would have tried to communicate the exact facts rather than make insinuations with conjectures, playing on the sentiments of the masses. It is pertinent to note that the oxygen express is not the only measure taken by the government to tackle the oxygen shortage in the country in these trying times.

The truth is that the Railways’ Oxygen Express seems to be travelling as fast as it possibly can.

According to sources in the Ministry, the break up of the time taken for the train to reach from Mumbai to Vizag is far less than the time it would take for an Oxygen tanker to cover the same distance.

Comparison of how long a tanker would take by road vs how long it takes by train

While an oxygen truck can only be on the road for 11 hours a day and reach from Mumbai to Vizag in 72 hours, the oxygen train can travel for 24 hours a day and reach the destination in 48 hours.

It is to be noted that the main issue facing India today is that of last-mile delivery more than that of oxygen shortage. For example, Jindal Steel and Power took to Twitter on the 21st of April that they had more than 500 tonnes of liquid oxygen at their Angul plant, however, no means to transport the same.

“We are waiting for the users to send their tankers”, they tweeted. Now, since transportation through the road is slower and NDTV certainly does not have any means to send tankers that can transport the oxygen faster than trains, one has to be realistic and evaluate the facts accordingly.

Currently, two Oxygen Express’ have completed their journey, this, in a span of 2 days. The first Oxygen Express ran from Maharashtra to Vizag. Then, once the train reached Vizag, Oxygen was filled from Vizag. The Oxygen Express then dropped tankers while coming back to Nagpur and the journey terminated at Nasik.

The second Oxygen Express ran from Lucknow to Bokaro. Oxygen was then filled at Bokaro and the train dropped tanker en route at Varanasi and then terminated at Lucknow with remaining tankers.

The third Oxygen Express has already started from Lucknow and is en-route to Bokaro to get oxygen filled.

It also has to be kept in mind that the Oxygen Express is not the only solution being deployed by the government of India to tackle the oxygen shortage in the face of rising COVID-19 cases.

Only 2 days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was at the helm of a high-level meeting in order to tackle the issue of declining oxygen supply across the country. The officials at the meeting informed the PM about the efforts undertaken to improve oxygen supply, in addition to discussing ways to help boost its availability. 

In the meeting, the officials noted that over the last few days, availability of Liquid Medical Oxygen in India has increased by about 3,300 MT per day with contributions from private and public steel plants, industries, oxygen manufacturers as well as through prohibition of supply of oxygen for non-essential industries.

Order passed by Union Health Secretary

In light of the high-level meeting chaired by the PM, an order was passedsubsequently in order to secure and boost the supply of Medical Liquid Oxygen in India. Here are some of the highlights from the order:-

  1. No restrictions on the movement of Medical Oxygen between the States to be imposed. Transport authorities shall be instructed accordingly to allow free inter-state movement of oxygen-carrying vehicles.
  2. No restrictions to be imposed on oxygen manufacturers and suppliers to limit their supply to only the one state or UT they are located in.
  3. Free movement of oxygen-carrying vehicles in the cities, without any restrictions of timings.
  4. Supply of oxygen for industrial purposes except those exempted by the Government is prohibited till further orders

Virar hospital in Mumbai where fire tragedy claimed 13 lives did not get a NOC from the fire department: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Virar hospital in Mumbai where fire tragedy claimed 13 lives did not get a NOC from the fire department: Report

On April 23, 13 patients were reported dead after a massive fire broke out in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Vijay Vallabh Covid Care hospital in Virar West in the Palghar district, Mumbai. The COVID-19 patients died after inhaling toxic fumes. Uddhav Thackeray government had ordered a probe.

Now, investigations have revealed that though a fire audit was conducted in Vijay Vallabh Covid Care hospital, they did not get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the fire department. This means that the hospital was operating without proper firefighting equipment and a NOC.

Mumbai police seize CCTV footage, registers FIR against hospital owner and staff

According to Mirror Now, the police has seized the CCTV footages of the hospital and are trying to investigate whether any staff was present in the ICU ward when the mishap happened. It says that on the day when the fire broke out the hospital claimed that there was a doctor and a ward boy present in the ICU. However, the relatives of the deceased had alleged that no staff was present in the ICU when the fire broke out.

Police have registered an FIR against the owner, administrators, doctors and staffers of the hospital under IPC sections 304, 337, 338 and 34. However, no arrests have been made so far.

Sanjay Kumar Patil, DCP (Zone 2), said: “In the FIR, the municipality has alleged that necessary precautions and safeguards were not taken by the hospital, which led to the incident. We have asked the fire department to give us their report. We are also finding out if the owner had all mandatory licenses to run the hospital,” Patil added.

The Virar hospital tragedy

According to reports, after 3 AM, the fire started in the air conditioning unit of the hospital’s ICU, where, as many as 17 patients were being treated for the infection. After the fire broke, the Vasai Virar Corporation fire brigade reached the spot and doused the fire. However, until then, 13 people have lost their lives to the fire.

Following this incident, people are criticising the Uddhav Thackeray government for its incompetence in getting a handle on the healthcare system in the state.

We reported yesterday how at least 57 have died in hospital mishaps in 4 the last months in Maharashtra.

While the Maharashtra government had displayed eager alacrity to deflect criticism and pin the blame of its bungled handling of the coronavirus crisis on the centre, it has not shown the same zeal in fixing accountability over the routine incidents of hospital mishaps. Instead, the health minister of state passes callous and flippant remarks that such incidents are of no national importance.

How ex-Navbharat Times journalist lost sense of decency, called DD journalist a ‘bhakt’ and ‘liar’ for sharing personal story of mother’s COVID-19 recovery

OpIndia Staff
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How ex-Navbharat Times journalist lost sense of decency, called DD journalist a ‘bhakt’ and ‘liar’ for sharing personal story of mother’s COVID-19 recovery

As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hits India, several journalists have been using social media to not only spread negativity and fake news but also rejoice when anyone they perceive as someone who does not harbour mindless hate for the Modi government, suffers from the Chinese virus. In a similar incident, former Navbharat Times journalist Avinish Mishra took to Twitter to mock DD journalist Ashok Shrivastav after he shared a personal story about the COVID-19 crisis.

Ashok Shrivastav had taken to Twitter on April 23, to share how his Covid-19 positive mother, whose oxygen level had fallen to 40%, recuperated at home after they brought an oxygen concentrator and administered oxygen to his mother in the house itself. “Now she is Covid negative”, the Doordarshan journalist informed.

In response to his Tweet, former Navbharat Times journalist Avinish Mishra decided to display just how petty hate can make one. Mishra responded to Ashok Shrivastav saying that he was lying about his mother being Covid positive.

He said that Shrivastav was using his mother as an excuse to shield the Modi government. Mishra insinuated that since Shrivastav is a “Modi Bhakt”, he was attempting to absolve Modi from the existing oxygen crisis in the country.

Avinish Mishra, in a terribly insensitive tweet, said that Ashok Shrivastav was using his own mother to create a ‘perception’ about the Modi government. One wonders what that perception might be.

Shrivastav in his tweet categorically mentioned that he had indeed taken his mother to the hospital, but looking at the condition of the hospital due to getting overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients, he felt that he could provide better care for his mother at home. Any human being with basic decency would be glad that anyone’s mother recovered from the deadly infection despite not being hospitalised, since it is known that COVID-19 is far more dangerous for those above the age of 45.

However, according to Mishra, Shrivastav was “using his own mother” to create a “perception”. It is pertinent to note that in his tweet, Shrivastav made no commentary on the current state of affairs in the country. He did not say that there is no shortage of beds or absolve any government of accountability. He merely shared his own journey and the fact that his mother had recovered from COVID-19.

Miffed by such aspersions, rightly so, Ashok Shrivastav hit back saying that Mishra should come to his house with a doctor and personally check his mother’s reports to verify the truth. He slammed the reporter for “spreading hatred and trolling” a person in such difficult times. He tells Mishra that he is messaging him his phone number so that he can personally get in touch with him and pay a visit to his mother.

Infuriated by Mishra’s Tweet, Shrivastav, in his subsequent Tweet sends his E-mail Id to Mishra saying that since Mishra has turned off his Twitter message he could get in touch with him via Email.

It is indeed tragic that journalists, in their hate for the Prime Minister, have now started targeting anyone just because they don’t share the blind hatred towards the central government. In trying times, one would imagine that a person could simply share a positive story about recovery, when we have seen so much death around, and not be abused for it. However, several journalists have display immense insensitivity and hatred, even in these trying times.

The armed forces too have stepped in to tackle the crisis. The defence ministry officials said an oxygen-producing technology developed for light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas was shared with the industry to scale up the production further. The technology can produce 1,000 litres of oxygen per minute.

CBI registers FIR against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in allegations of extortion made by Parambir Singh: Details

OpIndia Staff
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CBI registers FIR against former Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh in allegations of extortion made by Parambir Singh: Details

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now reportedly registered an FIR (First Information Report) against former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh in the case of extortion allegations levelled against by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh.

According to reports, the CBI is also conducting searches and raids at several places related to the case.

Earlier in the month, CBI had registered a preliminary inquiry to probe corruption allegations against Maharashtra’s ex-home minister Anil Deshmukh levelled by former Commission of Police, Mumbai, Parambir Singh. CBI spokesperson RC Joshi has said, “CBI has registered a PE in the respect of the Bombay High Court order dated April 5, 2021.”

The PE had been registered after the Bombay High Court ordered a CBI inquiry basis a PIL filed by Dr Jaishri Patil. Terming the case as ‘extraordinary and unprecedented, the Bombay High Court had also said that after the preliminary inquiry ordered by it, the CBI would be free to decide further course of action. Therefore, it allowed CBI to file an FIR in the case if it did find evidence against Anil Deshmukh in the allegations levelled against him by Parambir Singh.

Parambir Singh’s corruption allegations against Anil Deshmukh

Former Mumbai Police Commissioner Parambir Singh had written a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray alleging that the state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had asked controversial cop Sachin Vaze to collect Rs. 100 crore every month from bars, restaurants and other establishments.

The letter by Parambir Singh had raised several questions regarding the Antilia bomb scare case and the death of Mansukh Hiren. Sachin Vaze is currently under arrest for his involvement in the matter. The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier transferred the Mansukh Hiren death case to the NIA. Parambir Singh was then transferred and posted as DG Home Guard after the explosive revelations.

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