HC: What caused UP kids’ deaths?
The Allahabad high court on Friday sought details from the UP government on the reasons behind recent children’s deaths in a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur. The court heard two separate PILs, one at Lucknow and another one at Allahabad, on the issue.
The direction came a day ahead of chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s visit to Gorakhpur on Saturday. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is also likely to visit the district on the same day.
While the Allahabad bench of Chief Justice D.B. Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Verma asked the government to file its reply by August 29, the Lucknow bench of justices Vikram Nath and Daya Shankar Tiwari sought a response within six weeks on the reasons behind the deaths.
The court fixed October 9 as the next date of hearing.
Appearing on behalf of the state government, advocate general Raghavendra Pratap Singh before the Lucknow bench and opposed the petition.
Patna, Aug. 18: The toll in Bihar floods rose to 153 on Friday while the number of those marooned in 17 districts of the state crossed the one-crore mark.
Araria district accounted for 30 deaths, West Champaran 23, Sitamarhi 13, Madhubani 8 and Katihar 7. 11 each have died in Kisanganj, East Champaran and Supual and 9 each in Purnea and Madhepura.
Four deaths each were reported in Darbhanga, Gopalganj and Saharsa, 3 each in Khagaria and Sheohar, 2 in Saran and 1 in Muzaffarpur, Special Secretary in the Disaster Management Department Anirudh Kumar said.
Around 1.08 crore people have been hit by floods in 17 districts and 1,688 panchayats, he said.
Saran was included in the list of affected areas on Friday, taking number of districts under water to 17, Kumar said.
The toll due to the floods triggered by rains in Nepal and northern parts of the state stood at 119 yesterday, and 98 lakh people in 16 districts were hit.
A total of 3.92 lakh people are putting up in 1,289 relief camps in different parts of the state, he said.
The MeT office said Patna, Gaya, Bhagalpur and Purnea are likely to witness rain or thundershower tomorrow.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar reviewed the flood situation and gave necessary instruction to officials.
Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary in the Disaster Management Department Pratyay Amrit and his counterpart in the Health Department R K Mahajan were among those who attended the meeting.
During the meeting, the CM gave orders for intensive
airdropping of food packets in Kursakanta, Palasi, Sikti and Jokihaat in Araria and the Sugauli area in East Champaran, an official statement informed.
He directed the Road
Construction Department to restore the road from Kisanganj to Araria via Bahadurganj by tonight to facilitate relief and rehabilitation work at a warfooting.