Akhilesh demands CBI probe into hospital deaths

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday suggested a CBI probe into the children deaths in a Gorakhpur hospital along with all the other ongoing probes to ascertain the reasons leading to the tragedy.

"If the BJP government so wants it should recommend a CBI inquiry into the children deaths in the BRD Medical College hospital... Along with other probes, the agency could also be roped in," he told reporters here.

Replying to questions, he said that the cause of the deaths will be known after the completion of inquiries, but the matters that are coming to the fore now smack of corruption somewhere causing a breakdown in the supply of oxygen in the ward.

"Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth is not speaking on this issue... The government is not even providing help to the victims," Yadav said.

The death toll in the BRD hospital since August 7 till yesterday was 71 due to various causes including encephalitis.

Some of the deaths were alleged to have been caused by shortage of oxygen supply, a claim dismissed by the Uttar Pradesh government.

Describing Adityanath as "the digital chief minister of a new India", the former chief minister said he (Adityanath) was unaware of the reality and was instead embroiled in issues like namaz on the roads and Janmashtami functions in police stations.

"The BJP has given a digital chief minister to Uttar Pradesh ... Just as things digital are not on the ground, he too is oblivious of the real things," Yadav said, referring to Adityanath's statement that he has no right to stop Janmashtami celebrations in the police stations as he cannot stop offering of Eid prayers on the roads.

"The chief minister says the SP did not allow Janmashtami functions in the thanas...I ask as to when in the past 100 years the festival was not celebrated in the thanas... On the roads issue, ours is a great nation where people organise feasts also on the roads...

"The new India will not be created by talking about Eid prayers and Janmashtami in the thanas," he stressed.

The former chief minister said that if elected, his party's government will give Rs 5 lakh to each the thanas for celebrating Holi, Diwali, Janmashtami, Eid and all other festivals.

On the floods in several parts of the state, he alleged that the government was not extending enough help to the victims.

He also spoke on his detention while moving toward Auraiya yesterday, saying that the BJP which had won 325 of the 403 Assembly seats in the elections earlier this year was not comfortable in facing the people for the panchayat chairman's post and, therefore, was harassing the MLAs with the help of the police.

He said that his party, if required, will launch an agitation over the issue.

The Allahabad High Court today directed the UP government and the state's director general of medical education to file a detailed counter affidavit within six weeks on a PIL on the death of children in a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur.

The Lucknow bench of the high court fixed October 9 as the next date of hearing.

The bench of justices Vikram Nath and Daya Shankar Tiwari passed the order on the Public Interest Litigation filed by activist Nutan Thakur after hearing her, Advocate General Raghavendra Pratap Singh and Medical Education Counsel Sanjay Bhasin.

The Advocate General opposed the petition, saying the state government has taken every possible measure in the matter and shall take all possible action as per the report submitted by the chief secretary.

Thakur contended that the action of the state government so far gave a message that it was trying to hide facts and shield the guilty.

Till yesterday, the death toll in the BRD hospital since August 7 was 71 due to various causes including encephalitis.

Some of the deaths were alleged to have been caused by shortage of oxygen, a claim dismissed by the Uttar Pradesh government.