Rourkela: With the death of Suchitra Tripathy of Indirapalli in south Rourkela Monday at Ispat General Hospital (IGH), her whole family including her husband and two minor daughters succumbed to burn injuries, leaving hundreds of neighbours in a state of shock.
The family was burnt critically about a week back after gas leakage from an LPG cylinder led to a fire in the kitchen.
Shruti (7), the elder daughter, was the first to die Saturday while Suchitra’s husband Suresh and younger daughter Prachi (5) lost their lives the next day.
Ironically, the administration is still in the dark even as each member of the family sustained more than 80 per cent burns August 31 and the incident was all over the media.
Suresh, an auto-rickshaw driver, and his wife were popular among the slum residents due to their simplicity.
The lives of the family members could have been saved, had the administration reached the battling victims and facilitated better treatment for them in time, locals claimed.
They also blamed the gas agency for supplying defective cylinders in the area which led to the mishap and demanded his arrest.
If sources are to be believed, the hospital authorities also didn’t provide proper treatment to the victims apprehending that the latter would not be able to bear the expenses as they were poor.
By the time Union minister Jual Oram asked the hospital to provide free treatment to the family, it was too late. The administration didn’t bother to ensure proper treatment even after Shruti’s death. As the family didn’t get the required treatment at the initial stage, the condition of three others also turned critical and they passed away one after another.
Now, it was learnt that a well known political leader of the area was trying to settle the issue after consulting the proprietor of the gas agency concerned at the circuit house in Panposh.
He had reportedly struck a bargain and asked the agent to hand over a paltry amount to the kin of the deceased to bring things under control for the time being.
People also raised questions about the role of the police in the entire episode. Though a complaint was lodged at Raghunathpalli police station accusing the officials of the gas agency and the company concerned, it had no impact on the police.
The police are yet to arrest anyone in the case under duress even as four lives have been lost, alleged locals.
Suchitra’s kitchen turned a fireball due to a leak in the cylinder and her clothes caught fire after she turned on a stove. In a bid to save her, Suresh and the two kids also suffered burns. Neighbours first rushed the four to Rourkela Government Hospital and later shifted them to the IGH.
Meanwhile, women in the locality are scared of cooking on gas stoves and are seen keeping cylinders out of the kitchen following the tragedy.
On the other hand, a gas godown still operates from near the slum which is illegal, the residents said.
There would be a catastrophe if a similar mishap takes place inside the godown, feared the locals who raised questions as to how the administration allowed to set up a godown, having 10,000 consumers under the gas dealer, in such a populated area. PNN
