A day after a fire engulfed the children’s ward of a medical college in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district killing 10 newborns the state government Saturday announced Rs 5 lakh ex gratia to the parents of each deceased and also ordered a three-tier probe into the incident.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled the deaths and announced an assistance of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of each deceased.
According to Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar, the fire broke out around 10.45 pm on Friday in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College, one of the largest government hospitals in the state’s Bundelkhand region, possibly due to an electrical short circuit.
The children who were in the outer part of the NICU were rescued, along with some of those who were in the interior part of the unit.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident.
“On the CM’s instructions, an assistance of Rs 5 lakh each is being provided to the parents of the newborns who died in the incident and Rs 50,000 to the family of each of the injured from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund,” a statement from the state government said.