Sisodia writes to LG, reiterates demands
New Delhi, June 13: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday wrote to Lt. Governor Anil Baijal reiterating the demands for which he, along with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Cabinet Ministers Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, started their sit-in protest at the LG office on Monday.
"It is in the first time in the history that the IAS officers are on strike. It has been more than three months. The work is being affected. Only you or Prime Minister can end this strike.
"You requested us to give you 2-3 days to act on our demands on Monday. We have been waiting for past 3 days in your office. I am expecting that you must have taken some concrete steps during this time. The people of Delhi are waiting for your answer," Sisodia wrote in the letter.
He also informed the LG about the hunger strike he and Jain have launched.
For the last 72 hours, they are on a sit-in protest in the Raj Niwas, the official accommodation-cum-office of Lt. Governor Baijal, over the face-off between IAS officials and the AAP government since the alleged assault on the Chief Secretary.
On February 20, the Chief Secretary had alleged that he was assaulted by two Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) 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.
Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel also wrote to Baijal over the IAS officers' "strike". He extended his support to the demands of the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.
Calling the strike a "well-planned conspiracy", Goel, in the letter written on Tuesday, urged the LG to save Delhi from "destruction".
While the Delhi government is accusing the IAS officers of being on strike, the IAS association has maintained that the officers are doing their work and "no officer is on strike".
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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.
