Cuttack/Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court on Friday directed the state government to immediately file a status report on the hooch tragedy that claimed 33 lives in Cuttack and Khurda districts.
Converting a letter into a PIL, a division bench of Chief
Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice BN Mohapatra asked the
excise commissioner to file details about action taken on an
earlier order passed in November 2011 to check the trade in
illicit liquor in the state.
The high court also asked the health secretary to
personally visit the hospital and monitor the treatment of the
victims.
Nationalists Lawyers Forum secretary Nishikant Mishra
made the letter petition to the Chief Justice on Wednesday
alleging that victims were not being given proper treatment
and there was fear that the death toll would mount further.
Meanwhile, official sources said that the state
government appointed Justice (retd) A S Naidu, former judge of
Orissa High Court, to head the inquiry commission into the
liquor deaths.
The number of victims being treated at various hospitals
was pegged at 81.
A report from Cuttack said that 15 patients left hospital
against the advice of doctors, which was reported to the
police.
Hospital sources said three victims were in a critical
condition in the ICU, while six others had lost their vision.
Hospital emergency officer BN Moharana said that barring
the three patients in ICU, the condition of the remaining were
stable and nearly 90 percent of them would be discharged in
the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, two personnel of a pharmaceutical company
based in Bhubaneswar were arrested for the liquor deaths.
PTI
First Published: Friday, February 10, 2012, 22:38