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3 patients being shifted to Delhi for treatment: Tripura CM on Rath Yatra mishap
Manik Saha, who visited Tripura’s GBP hospital on Saturday, said the families of three critical patients wanted them to be shifted to Delhi
NEW DELHI: ‘Tripura chief minister Manik Saha on Saturday said the state government will send three patients who sustained burn injuries in the June 28 accident in Unakoti district to Delhi for treatment at the state’s expense.
Saha, who visited Tripura’s Govind Ballabh Pant (GBP) hospital in Agartala on Saturday, said the state’s doctors had done a good job but the families of three critical patients wanted them to be shifted to Delhi for better treatment.
“Our doctors including the plastic surgeons provided appropriate treatment. The Delhi-based doctors also appreciated it during interaction through video conferencing. The patients’ families want to send them (patients) to Delhi for treatment. As we said earlier… we have decided to bear the expenses of their treatment,” the chief minister said.
Saha said two patients were being flown to Delhi on Saturday and the third on Sunday.
Seven people including three children died of electrocution and 16 others injured after a Lord Jagannath chariot came into contact with an overhead high-voltage electric wire during the “Ulto Rath (return journey)” procession as part of the annual Rath Yatra festival in Tripura’s Unakoti district on June 28.
During the festival, the sibling deities — Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhdara and Lord Jagannath — return to their abode in a chariot, a week after Rath Yatra.
Thousands of people were pulling the heavily decorated chariot made of iron when it came in contact with a 133 kv overhead cable. Parts of the Rath immediately caught fire and people fell on the road; their bodies in flames.
The state government announced Rs. 4 lakh ex-gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs.2.5 lakh for those with over 60% burns. Those with 40-60% burn injuries were to get ₹75,000. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also announced an additional assistance of ₹2 lakh for death and ₹50,000 for injuries from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
The state also ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.
