Central govt responsible for delay in fishing harbor development: JR Lobo
Mangaluru: Coming down heavily on central government, former MLA J R Lobo on Saturday said that the central government is responsible for the delay in the development of stage III of Mangaluru fishing harbour.
Addressing a press conference here, JR Lobo said, "Recently a daily newspaper carried an article saying that due to the rift between the central and the state government the development of stage III of Mangaluru fishing harbor is being delayed. There is no rift, but it is because of the central government that is delaying the release of funds.
"The foundation stone for the project was laid in the year 2010 and it was supposed to finish by 2015. But due to lack of support from the central government, it was not possible to complete it on time. The estimated cost of this project was Rs 57.60 crore and the central government's share was Rs 43.20 crore, and that of the state government Rs 14.40 crore,” he added.
"Out of the central government's share of Rs 43.20 crore, only Rs 13 crore has been released so far. There has been no response so far from the central government to the revised estimated cost of Rs 98.26 crore, which has made it difficult for the state government to move forward with this project," said J R Lobo.
Kallige Tharnath Shetty, Mahabala Maarla, TK Sudheer, Santosh Shetty, Neeraj Paul, Sabitha Misquith, Arif Bava and others were present.
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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.
