Judicial inquiry ordered into Ahmedabad’s Shrey Hospital fire

The Gujarat government has decided to institute a judicial inquiry into the Shrey Hospital fire in Ahmedabad on August 6, in which eight COVID-19 patients lost their lives, even as a two-member committee inquiry report reported that it was an accidental fire.

Minister of state for home Pradeepsinh Jadeja said in Gandhinagar on Monday evening that the inquiry commission will be headed by a retired high court judge.

While FIR has not been registered even after the fourth day of the incident, Jadeja said that Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has given instructions to expedite the process of filing an FIR.

He said that the two-member inquiry committee, comprising Mukesh Puri and Sangeeta Singh, has ruled that it was an accidental fire that occured in electrical medical equipment and spread in the ICU within three minutes. The report, according to the sources, have been submitted after going through reports of the Fire Brigade, FSL, police and electrical inspector.

Jadeja said that the decision to set up an inquiry commission has been taken to ensure that nothing is missed out. The police’s failure to file an FIR in the case has been criticized from various quarters.

The state government had announced assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured. Forty-one COVID-19 patients were shifted to the AMC-run SVP Hospital.