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Post by beth on Dec 17, 2011 23:37:47 GMT -5
This thread is for Prashna's posts while he is in India
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2011 20:07:36 GMT -5
Thank you, most kindly, Beth. And of course, Fret and the ever-enchanting Sadie. Sadly my message today is grave and sombre. You may have heard about the tragedy that engulfed nearly a hundred families in one of the largest disasters in Kolkata. With overwhelming grief and anguish, I regret to report the tragedy was man-made and evitable. Purely as a consequence of human and corporate greed, nearly a hundred people did not receive the care for which they had come to one of the largest hospitals in Kolkata. They met premature death. AMRI hospital tragedy in Kolkata: Toll rises to 89, owners arrested
KOLKATA: The death toll in the AMRI hospital fire in Kolkata has increased to 89.
Meanwhile, noted industrialists SK Todi, RS Goenka and four other directors of the hospital have been arrested and booked for several non-bailable offences, said the police.
"Six directors of the AMRI hospital have been arrested today in connection with the fire tragedy. Those arrested include SK Todi, RS Goenka and Ravi Todi. They have been booked for several non-bailable offences, including culpable homicide not amounting to murder," joint commissioner of police (Crime) Damayanti Sen said.
AMRI hospital fire: Smoke alarm switched off, say investigators
TNN Dec 15, 2011, 06.20AM IST Tags:
* Smoke alarm| * Kolkata Municipal Corporation
KOLKATA: Detectives probing the AMRI tragedy are convinced that the fire broke out no later than 2.15am. It was around this time that the hospital's fire alert code (5555) was issued. The pharmacy employee who generated the code was interrogated for a long time on Wednesday.
The AMRI staff had exhausted 10 extinguishers and dried up the 1,100 litre firefighting water reservoir, say officials. "They managed to douse the flames at one point
time but the floor was too hot and the highly inflammable materials and chemicals kept smoldering until the blaze erupted furiously once more," a fire department official said.
To make things worse, the smoke alarm was switched off, say investigators. If it were on, it would have triggered the air-handling unit on each floor and magnetic dampers would have stopped toxic fumes from entering the AC channels and the wards. "The fire did not go beyond the basement, only the smoke," said fire brigade director Gopal Bhattacharjee. All the 93 deaths were due to asphyxiation.
It is up to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to find out whether the magnetic dampers were in place. "But it was never checked meticulously . KMC officials tend to take things on face value," said a senior KMC officer. In spite of all this, more lives could still have been saved, said a fire safety officer. The first hour of a blaze is the most important. In AMRI, the golden hour was lost because of the brazenness of some hospital personnel," he said.
And the reason for this cockiness? AMRI personnel had recently managed to douse two such fires - first in the diabetes clinic on the first floor in October and then in the cafeteria. Perhaps this gave them the killer confidence that resulted in one of the worst hospital tragedies in the world.
Sadly I have another and worse tragedy to report, before I can turn to my own pleasant, indeed circumstances. Where so many are suffering my own considerations take second place. I apologise for being the bearer of sad news. Prashna
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2011 20:11:36 GMT -5
Just to add my own experience.
Amri Hospital is less than 3 miles from where I am living. We saw ambulances ferrying the injured and the congested roads surrounding the area. We were out on the streets in a nearby area and did not witness the actual tragedy.
The TV was reporting the tragedy all day and our taxi drivers as everyone else were commenting on it all day also.
Life goes on.
Prashna
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Post by beth on Dec 19, 2011 23:34:47 GMT -5
Thank you for letting us know about thisl, Prashna ... from an up close and personal account of what you saw and heard, plus the media information.
How horrible for all concerned. I hope they get to the bottom of the cause and nothing like that ever happens again in Kolkata.
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Post by maggie on Dec 20, 2011 5:11:32 GMT -5
This is so sad, I saw it on the news. Why would someone do that ...... beyond comprehension. Did the killer turn off the smoke alarm? Someone who knew the hospital perhaps. Sometimes I think that the punishment should fit the crime, if/when he is caught and punished. Edit: Just re-read the top part - 6 directors?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 7:16:51 GMT -5
This is so sad, I saw it on the news. Why would someone do that ...... beyond comprehension. Did the killer turn off the smoke alarm? Someone who knew the hospital perhaps. Sometimes I think that the punishment should fit the crime, if/when he is caught and punished. Edit: Just re-read the top part - 6 directors? Yes, Maggie 6 so far and more to follow. But will they meet with due justice? I fear not. They might be just as lucky as the convicted corrupt MP's in Britain! I hope not. I have not had the time or the facilities myself to analyse the causes of this tragedy, which I regard as criminal negligence with deadly, foreseeable and preventable multiple deaths of some of the most vulnerable beings. The culpability is obvious and unbelievably extreme. I shall reproduce the analysis of my own brother whose judgment I trust implicitly. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMRI is a private 190-bed AMRI Hospital at Dhakuria in the southern fringes...centrally air-conditioned seven-storey private hospital in Kolkata on Friday.Being privately run, it was constructed and is operated solely for profit, which goes to the directors. All Fire safety regulations were ignored to save money. Officials were bribed to look the other way. The entire building was sealed with very substantial glass double glazing to minimise air-conditioning costs. Far too large amounts of fuel were stored in the basement to power the generators in case of mains electricity failure (which does happen). Also stored in the basement were many pressurised canisters of life saving liquefied gas, like liquid oxygen for life-saving in an emergency. The fire started in the basement. A deadly concoction o fhot fumes including CO went upwards to spread in the wards. All windows were sealed, with no provision to open them or even break them open. Patients in critical condition suffocated in their beds. They didn't have a chance. CO is a deadly killer and acts in seconds on the human body, even a healthy one. The glass in the windows were so strong possibly laminated, certainly hardened, that the fire crews had difficulty in smashing them open from their ladders outside. And when they did fire and deadly CO billowed out to wewngulf the firemen who did not have the equipment to protect themselves from the inferno. Such are the consequences of human greed. Once again, I apologise for the bluntness of this report. Regards. Prashna
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Post by fretslider on Dec 20, 2011 8:23:33 GMT -5
Gosh Prashna, I thought you were in for a nice peaceful holiday. This is awful news and one's heart goes out to the injured and bereaved.
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Post by Soulman on Dec 20, 2011 14:32:26 GMT -5
Sad news, made worse when you are amongst it.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2011 21:14:18 GMT -5
Today, my primary task is a pleasant one; hopeflly it will bring joy to those around me. But my own tasks seems trivial and inconsequential against the backdrop of large-scale tragedies that are ll around me. I cannot give attention to my work until I have done justice to those who have suffered so terribly. As Bengal hooch toll reaches 147, police hunt for ‘kingpin’ Badshah
Madhuparna Das Tags : Bengal Hooch toll, hooch tragedy, Noor Islam Sheikh, illicit liquor business, nation news Posted: Fri Dec 16 2011, 02:12 hrs Diamond Harbour:
In the Magrahat-Gocharan-Sangrampur belt of South 24-Parganas district, they call him Badshah. The story of his rise from poverty to becoming owner of a flourishing country liquor business and at least four large homes is known to many. His Hotel Aziz is a prominent landmark just outside platform number 1 of Magrahat railway station. He used to be a CPM man but is now Trinamool.
Noor Islam Sheikh aka Badshah is the man police hold prima facie responsible for the hooch tragedy in which the number of dead rose to 147 today, making it a bigger disaster than last week’s AMRI Hospital fire and the worst of its kind ever in West Bengal.
Police and excise department investigators examining the 12 major syndicates that control the multi-crore illicit liquor business in this district south of Kolkata have zeroed in on a distillery owned by Badshah as the source of yesterday’s poison brew.
South 24-Parganas district magistrate N S Nigam said a hunt had been launched for Badshah. Senior district officials said he owns several illegal bhattis (distilleries) across the densely-populated area.
Police sources said the illicit liquor — cholai in Bengali — syndicate works through mobile manufacturing units that are set up in remote villages. Production of liquor involves boiling molasses, water and catalysts over 70-80 ovens, and collecting the vapour in separate containers. Unknown herbs and tree-bark shavings are sometimes added to the mix, officials said, and chemicals are used to provide extra kick to the distilled liquor.
The Indian Express tracked down one of Badshah’s homes in Mahitala near Magrahat on Thursday, and found the front door locked. Local people said the house was empty. Badshah, they said, lives in a palatial house in Baruipur town some kilometres to the north, and visits occasionally.
Official sources and local people said Badshah enjoyed the patronage of Left Front leaders, but had switched loyalty to the Trinamool Congress after the assembly elections. The area is dominated by the Trinamool, and Badshah had reportedly played an active role during a recent clash between the police and villagers in Magrahat after a team of electricity board officials tried to stop the illegal drawing of power from overhead lines.
Badshah’s role in the illicit liquor business is primarily that of a bulk supplier to middlemen, sources said. His first consignments were dispatched early in the morning by trains plying the Sealdah South division, allegedly under the noses of the police and railway police, excise officials and the public. He hired local labour to manufacture the cholai, paying them Rs 150-200 per day, the sources said.
Once supplied by Badshah, the liquor passed through several hands and was conceivably contaminated by middlemen at multiple stages. Consumers typically paid a final price of Rs 5 for a small glass of the cholai, Rs 10 for a 300 ml pouch, and Rs 20 for a 500 ml pouch, sources said.
Excise Commissioner D K Chakrabarty said a total 58 lakh litres of illicit liquor had been seized across the state this year, and a total 28,500 cases registered. The excise department had arrested 4,075 couriers of the brew.
A senior official of the department said the seizure represented a minuscule percentage of the total production of illicit liquor. The number of brewers is estimated at around 27,000 statewide, and the loss to the exchequer as a result of their activities at Rs 150-200 crores every year. Like the deadly cocaine trade , Noor Islam Sheikh's multi-million empire was based on human misery, extortion, human trafficking and lately gun and explosives trafficking. The human cost is appalling, even more so than the AMRI disaster. Yet even my relatives speak lightly of it and almost blame the victims; why did they have to drink alcohol, illicit or not. Such is the low esteem in which alcohol drinkers are held in society. But when the rich consume Cognac, Royal Salute, or Bollinger in expensive Restaurants that the locals cannot even dream of entering (except to clean and polish after the rich) they look the other way. Such is the power of money and cost of human greed. I apologise once again to bring such stark news and hope not to have to repeat it. But I thouigh the world needs to know the reality, if we are to have any chance of averting it in future. Regards. Prashna
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Post by beth on Dec 21, 2011 12:56:53 GMT -5
There will always be bad people showing the ugly side of human nature ... all sorts of excuses but mostly just greed and selfishness.
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Post by chriswood on Dec 21, 2011 14:43:43 GMT -5
The above reminds me of the time I was staying in one of the well known hotels in Jersey.
I went to bed one evening on the second floor and in climbing the stairs found every one of the fire doors had a wedge holding them open!
I returned to Reception and on informing them of this I was informed that this was common practise in the summer as it aided the ventilation of the lower areas!
I made my feelings heard and demanded to see the manager, I was informed that he was only to be disturbed if some important happened, I suggested that perhaps sounding the fire alarm would raise him from his slumbers and if there was a fire all those on the top floors would be roasted.
The conversation on the phone was something along the lines of 2sorry to bother you sir but there is some looney who says if he doesn't see you he will set the fire alarms off".
We had our meeting and he said he was not aware of the practise and he would make sure it would not happen again. Well the next night it was the same again and this time there was a different person on the desk and we went through the same conversation again.
Same manager came to sort out the problem, he said it was the patrons that were using the wedges to keep the doors open. At this statement I suggested removing the wedges from the area, how would my staff keep the doors open during the day whilst they were cleaning?
I left the next day and am waiting for a fire to be reported at this prestigious resort hotel sometime in the future.
I think the arrest of the "directors" in the hospital is a bit knee jerk because I doubt if they knew anything about the systems installed and the blame rests on the day to day management of the hospital.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2011 20:33:34 GMT -5
The above reminds me of the time I was staying in one of the well known hotels in Jersey. .... I think the arrest of the "directors" in the hospital is a bit knee jerk because I doubt if they knew anything about the systems installed and the blame rests on the day to day management of the hospital. I have no wish to dwell on this or any other tragedy. So I shall respond as briefly as possible. As Beth says, greed and selfishness occurs everywhere, including the richest of human societies. The recent credit crunch is a global reminder of that. Chris, the directors know all right. Their astronomical wealth is based on bribery and corruption. I can only cite from my personal knowledge from half a century ago, when I used to work professionally in Kolkata for major construction firm. They had to bid for construction jobs in a sealed tender. The job should have gone to a reliable bidder quoting the lowest cost. I know that it usually went to one with the best connections, bribe or who could call upon past favours. Bribery was the most common route and the orders came from the top. I have heard senior management say to officials, "brother, how much do you need"? Of course, there are exceptions, but here it is common to use bribery to bypass safety regulations and officials. If any honest official tries to enforce safety regulations, he gets into difficulties or might even lose his job. Chris, you could go to another hotel, but where does a young man with an income of £200/month with a wife and 2 or 3 dependant children go? Jobs especially Public Sector jobs are not plentiful in India. Once someone loses such a position he is automatically blacklisted. Private sector employers can readily find employees more cheaply as unemployment rate here is sky high. What choice does the ordinary employee have other than ignore his conscience and follow the orders of the directors? I shall pass to more pleasant matters in my next post Regards. Prashna
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Post by sadie on Dec 21, 2011 22:14:30 GMT -5
I find it very hard to understand people that can have so little empathy to their fellow human beings.
In the case of the hospital.....cutting corners and just not following safety codes.....it's so ridiculous.....I don't believe anyone believes someone will die from it.....they just seem to believe they are bullet proof or something.....it will never happen there....so those things don't matter. It happens all the time and no one seems to learn from it.
The other story......too many people that just seem to been born lacking something that allows them to prey on others.
Be safe Prashna.
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Post by mouse on Dec 22, 2011 4:42:12 GMT -5
""""Like the deadly cocaine trade , Noor Islam Sheikh's multi-million empire was based on human misery, extortion, human trafficking and lately gun and explosives trafficking."""
this is one of the reasons i loathe islam...and no doubt the man called,,Noor Islam Sheikh's would describe himself as a muslim....if some one who did this proffesed to be christian he would be mocked and reviled for being a total hyporcrite .... interesting readings prash..keep up the good work ...first hand acounts are much better than dry readings
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Post by chriswood on Dec 22, 2011 5:34:38 GMT -5
Good morning, just to recap on the events in the hospital.
The news item says that the many deaths were caused because the fire doors were left open.
Please refer to my post about the events that I experienced in a "well known" hotel in Jersey.
My remarks about the directors being arrested referred to the Fire /Smoke alarms being switched off.
My career at sea in another life included a spell on crosschannel ferries. During this time the Herald of Free Enterprise incident occured. The reason was the ship left port with the bow doors open. The people responsible for this error were the officers onboard that morning not the "directors" who were home in their beds.
There was nothing operationally wrong with the doors, the system had not malfunctioned and there were no ongoing maintenance issue that the "directors" could have been responsible for.
There was also a clear chain of command written into the ships operating manual.
From the report this was a simple case of negligence on the operators on duty that day/night.
If there was a maintenance issue with the system that the "directors" had halted because of cost etc then by all means they could be held responsible for the failure of the system but this does not appear to be the case.
I would also add that it was extremely difficult to educate even trained and responsible crew members about the dangers of small fires being caused by unlikely sources. For this reason all waste containers in workshops and engine rooms were supplied with covers and emptied on a regular basis, all containers were ( paint cans ) not to be left open in stores, Gas bottles were in a compartment on deck and could be readily detached and manhandled to the side and disposed of!
The point of this post is to point out that no matter how diligent the owners are in a civilised country free of corruption on the scale that no doubt exists in the Indian Sub-Continent human frailty of short cuts will always take place.
I give you pedestrian crossings in this country, How many of the drivers on this board have had to avoid children and grown ups crossing the road yards away from a proper controlled crossing, how many drivers on this board have wondered at the stupidity of cyclists who prefer the road to the cycle lane provided for them at great expense.
How many people on this board in industry and the building trade have ventured into a hard hat area with out one (just for a minute).
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