Jaipur, Oct 6 (IANS) A day after eight patients died in a tragic fire at the Trauma Centre of Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital in Jaipur, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok Gehlot, has demanded a judicial enquiry into the incident. However, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa and Health Minister Jawahar Singh Bedham stated that a six-member panel had already been set up to look into the tragedy.

Gehlot surveyed the trauma centre in the aftermath of the fire and met with grieving families who had lost their loved ones in the blaze.

He sharply criticised the Rajasthan government, saying, “We will speak to the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary. We are very saddened that no one is talking about an investigation. The families of the deceased say they don’t know where the bodies are. This is a very bad situation. There is no minister or government official present. There should be a judicial enquiry into such an incident.”

He argued that transparency is needed as families of the deceased patients deserve clear answers about the fire, cause, and handling of the crisis.

In response, Deputy Chief Minister Prem Chand Bairwa said that the Chief Minister and other high-ranking officials were present at the hospital.

He emphasised, “The Chief Minister and all of us came here last night and the Chief Minister has formed a committee to investigate the cause. The Chief Minister is concerned about this, and we will work to provide all possible relief to the families of the deceased.”

Health Minister Jawahar Singh Bedham accused the Congress of being insensitive to the tragedy. “The Congress Party has become insensitive. As soon as we received information about the fire, we went to the hospital. The Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and I assessed the situation. We met with the families of the victims. This is a very sad incident,” he said.

Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee President Govind Singh Dotasra also joined the fray. He accused the state government of negligence and alleged repeated failures in handling public healthcare: “People have died due to government negligence. The government is insensitive and has completely failed. People are dying due to fires and expired medicines… The government is paying no attention.”

The Rajasthan government has formed a six-member high-level committee — led by Commissioner Iqbal Khan — to investigate the causes of the fire and evaluate emergency preparedness. Meanwhile, the public continues to press for accountability, compensation, and assurances that such a tragedy will not happen again.

–IANS

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