StatesWest Bengal
Suvendu Adhikari defends sending Chorbagan stampede injured to private hospitals
The West Bengal Chief Minister said no one died after being moved to a private hospital, admitted government hospitals had shortcomings, and asked whether doctors who criticised the decision were on duty.
Key points
- Adhikari said not a single person died after being sent to a private hospital.
- He said it would take two years to bring government hospital infrastructure up to private standards.
- Police have arrested a Cooch Behar man for a post claiming 60 deaths instead of 19.
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday defended the decision to send people injured in the Chorbagan pandal stampede to private hospitals, saying the move had kept the death toll from rising.
“We decided to send the injured to private hospitals on the spot so that the death toll does not increase,” Adhikari said. “Not a single person died after being sent to a private hospital.”
Nineteen people were killed and at least 25 injured in the crush at the Chorbagan Sarbojanin Durga Puja pandal in north Kolkata on Saturday night. Fourteen of the injured were moved to private hospitals, a decision that drew criticism, including from some doctors.
“Some shortcomings”
The Chief Minister did not deny that government hospitals had fallen short. “There are some shortcomings. It will take two years to improve the infrastructure like that in private hospitals,” he said.
He also turned on the critics within the system. Adhikari said it should be investigated whether the doctors and junior doctors who spoke out about the referrals had been on duty at the time, adding that leaving duty was against the rules.
He spoke after monitoring hospitals on screens at the control room in Swasthya Bhavan, the health department headquarters in Salt Lake, where he reviewed the department’s preparations for the remaining days of the Puja.
Anger on the ground
The criticism has not been confined to hospitals. Eyewitnesses and visitors have accused the police of failing to manage the crowd, and say police and disaster management teams were late to arrive and slow to begin rescue work. Seven people have been arrested in connection with the stampede so far.
Investigators have still not identified who made the misleading announcement inside the pandal that night that set off the panic. The pandal had 30 CCTV cameras, and footage from 13 of them has been secured and is being examined.
Arrest over false toll
Kolkata Police have also begun tracking social media accounts spreading misinformation about the tragedy. On Monday night they arrested Ainul Haque, a resident of Cooch Behar district, for allegedly sharing an old video of a similar mishap elsewhere and claiming that 60 people, not 19, had died.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Kunal Agarwal identified the arrested man. He has been booked under Section 353(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, which covers false statements likely to create enmity or ill will between groups. Police are checking whether he acted alone or as part of an organised group, and have asked the public to report misleading posts and to verify before sharing.
The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to set up a judicial inquiry led by a retired judge into the stampede.