Kejriwal's sit-in: Sisodia launches hunger strike
New Delhi, June 13 : As the sit-in protest by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his three Cabinet colleagues at the Lt. Governor's office here entered its second day on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia launched an indefinite hunger strike.
Kejriwal, Sisodia, Jain and Gopal Rai has been camping in the Raj Niwas, the official accommodation-cum-office of Lt. Governor Anil Baijal, since Monday evening. Jain started a hunger strike on Tuesday evening
The Delhi Chief Minister said he and his colleagues would not leave Baijal's office until their demands were met.
The demands include a direction to IAS officers working in the Delhi administration to end their "strike", action against officers who have struck work for "four months" and approval to his government's proposal for doorstep delivery of ration to the poor.
On Wednesday morning, Kejriwal tweeted that his "struggle" was on.
"Good Morning to all Delhites. The struggle is on to remove all the hurdles before the developmental works of Delhi. Our willpower is our strength," he said.
Sisodia in a tweet said it was their third day in the LG's office and "he did not have time to order the IAS officers to end their strike... This shows that the strike is being held on LG's order".
"To ensure the rights of the Delhites and to re-start their work, I am going on an indefinite hunger strike. Our willpower and the trust of people is our strength," Sisodia tweeted.
All the four ministers were active on social media with tweets and re-tweets. All MLAs and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers will gather at the Chief Minister's residence at 4 p.m on Wednesday.
The AAP leaders also exhorted the common people through video messages to join the protest march.
The police have already beefed up security outside Raj Niwas, with paramilitary and police personnel deployed in a 2 km radius of the LG's office.
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Jhansi fire: Nurse's heroic efforts helped save over dozen babies
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.
