New Delhi, June 13: After a hiatus of three years, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is back in 'dharna' mode with two sit-ins in the last 30 days.
With the latest protest in the office room of Lt Governor Anil Baijal's residence, the rift between the IAS officials and the Aam Aadmi Party government, which started in February this year after an alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash, has flared up again.
The activist-turned-politician launched his party in 2012 and became the Chief Minister of Delhi in December next year with the support of the Congress as his party won 28 seats in the Assembly elections.
Soon after becoming the Chief Minister, he along with his cabinet launched a protest in January 2014 when Kejriwal protested on the road outside the Rail Bhawan close to Parliament House, over the issue of control over Delhi Police, which is with the Centre.
After staying in power for 49 days, he resigned and proposed fresh elections as he failed in introducing the Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill due to lack of majority in the Assembly.
In 2015, when Assembly elections were held in Delhi, the AAP won a massive majority securing 67 of the total 70 seats.
After that, as Chief Minister Kejriwal never protested over anything until last month when he along with all his MLAs sat on a 'dharna' on the road near the Lt Governor's office urging him "not to stall" the CCTV project under "pressure from the BJP".
Kejriwal and the MLAs went to meet the Lt Governor on May 14. But when the police did not allow them to enter, they squatted on the road. They protested for around three hours sitting on the road and chanting slogans against the LG and the BJP.
The protest was called off with the party deciding that it will reach out to the people to tell them that the "BJP and the LG are disrupting the installation of CCTV cameras in the city".
The latest round of dramatic protest began at the LG's house by Kejriwal with Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and cabinet ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai in the Raj Niwas, the official accommodation-cum-office of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, since Monday evening. Sisodia and Jain have now launched an indefinite hunger strike.
The reason for the novel protest is the face-off between IAS officials and the AAP government after the alleged assault on the Chief Secretary.
On February 20, the Chief Secretary alleged that he was assaulted by two Aam Aadmi Party MLAs Amanatullah Khan and Prakash Jarwal in the presence of Kejriwal at the Chief Minister's residence.
Following this, IAS officers in Delhi were not attending routine meetings called by the Ministers and the Chief Minister as "they (the Ministers) have failed to give any assurance till date regarding safety, security, dignity and respect to the officers including women officers," IAS Association secretary Manisha Saxena had said.
The four went to the LG's office on Monday at 5.30 p.m. to press their three demands, including a direction to IAS officers to end their "strike" and to take action against officers who have struck work for "four months".
The Chief Minister also demanded approval to his government's proposal to deliver rations to the poor at their homes.
Kejriwal said he and his colleagues would not leave Baijal's office until their demands were met. As of now, there seems to be no end to the protest with Bailjal not responding to their sit in.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Lucknow/Jhansi (UP), Nov 17: Nurse Megha James was on duty when the fire broke out at the Jhansi hospital and she threw herself headlong into the rescue efforts, playing a hero's role by saving several babies.
Even when her salwar got burned, she refused to give up and was able to evacuate 14-15 babies with others' help.
"I had gone to take a syringe to give an injection to a child. When I came back, I saw that the (oxygen) concentrator had caught fire. I called the ward boy, who came with the fire extinguisher and tried to put it out. But by then, the fire had spread," James said.
Ten babies perished in a fire that broke out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Maharani Laxmi Bai Medical College in Jhansi Friday night.
Faced with an enormous blaze, James's mind worked with a frenetic speed, to the extent she cared little about burning herself.
"My chappal caught fire and I burned my foot. Then my salwar caught fire. I removed my salwar and discarded it. At that time, my mind was virtually not working," she told PTI Videos.
James just wore another salwar and went back to the rescue operation.
"There was a lot of smoke, and once the lights went out, we could not see anything. The entire staff brought out at least 14-15 children. There were 11 beds in the ward with 23-24 babies," she said.
Had the lights not gone out they could have saved more children, James said. "It all happened very suddenly. None of us had expected it."
Assistant Nursing Superintendent Nalini Sood praised James's valour and recounted bits from how the rescue operation was carried out.
"The hospital staff broke the glasses of the NICU ward to evacuate the babies. It was then Nurse Megha's salwar caught fire. Instead of caring for her safety, she stayed there to rescue the babies and handed them over to people outside," she said.
Sood said James is currently undergoing treatment at the same medical college. She said she did not know the extent of her burns.
"The rescued babies were shifted to a ward very close to the NICU ward… When I recall the scene, I feel like crying," she said.
Dr Anshul Jain, the head of the anaesthesiology department at the medical college, explained the standard rescue operation and claimed the hospital followed the protocol to the T.
"In the triage process during an ICU evacuation, the policy is to evacuate less-affected patients first. The rationale behind this approach is that patients requiring minimal support can be relocated quickly, enabling a larger number of evacuations to be completed in a shorter time.
"In contrast, patients on ventilators or requiring high oxygen support demand more time and resources for evacuation," he said.
"This principle was successfully implemented in Jhansi, playing a significant role in saving many lives," Jain said.
A newborn rescued from the fire died due to illness on Sunday, Jhansi District Magistrate Avinash Kumar said.