After the tragedy struck AMRI hospital in Kolkata, chief minister Mamata Banerjee took out a candle march to pay tribute to the victims of the fire that claimed 93 lives. Little more than a year ago, she had lit candles in memory of the deceased at the Stephen Court fire that claimed 33 lives. In the intervening months, Bengal went through a change of guard and Banerjee came to power while retaining her leading-from-the-front image. Appearing to put his bitter Singur experience behind him, Ratan Tata has now tweeted that the swift and firm action of the chief minister is commendable. But, is it?
A year ago, Banerjee was the opposition leader and had demanded a judicial enquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge or a CBI enquiry into the Stephen Court blaze.
Today, as chief minister, she has ordered a special investigation into the AMRI episode as soon as the rescue operations were over.
She has virtually camped on the hospital premises, personally monitoring the rescue work. Sources say that she actually went on without food for seven hours while managing the crowd at the AMRI hospital and ensuring a speedy delivery of the dead bodies to family members after the autopsy was over.
Unlike the previous government which got engaged in a passing the buck game with the municipal authority during the Stephen Court incident, Banerjee was seen sitting under a tree in front of AMRI from the day after this incident.
She faced up to angry protesters, including hospital staff concerned about job losses. She was heckled. She was told, ?You must treat the issue leniently. If the licence is cancelled, we will lose our jobs. Let our Dhakuria unit function. What will happen to us now? Your government must get us jobs.? She was caught off guard but came back with a strong rejoinder. ?What do you think of yourselves? What were you doing when people were dying? How could so many people be killed? Aren?t you ashamed after killing so many people??
Immediately, a section of the Trinamool Congress supporters branded the hecklers as being fuelled by the hospital management. Soon, Banerjee herself accused the management of instigating the staff to start an agitation.
rohit.khanna@expressindia.com