Fire mishap in Bengaluru Corporation office: Two persons detained
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Saturday said police have detained two people who had escaped after the fire mishap at the Bengaluru municipal Corporation's office, which left nine people injured.
He said the police have started investigation into the fire mishap at the Quality Control Laboratory of the civic agency on Friday.
"Police have to register a case and investigate. Two persons had fled. They have been detained. They are the (BBMP) staff. They ran away soon after the fire. They could have doused fire soon after the incident as there was safety equipment available there," Shivakumar, who holds Bengaluru Development portfolio, told reporters here.
Others on the top floor were trapped by the time they ran down the stairs.
The DCM said three inquiries were going on simultaneously – one is the departmental inquiry by the BBMP, second is police investigation and third by the Electrical Inspectorate to investigate whether the fire happened due to a short circuit.
According to him, the Quality Control Lab was not the place to store documents but it has been done.
"Whom to blame for it? The accident has already happened. We have to provide the best treatment to the injured. We will shift this lab elsewhere," he said.
The Bengaluru Central Division DCP Srinivas Gowda told reporters that a Group-D employee who was present there is being interrogated.
"We are interrogating one person who was on the ground floor at the time of incident…As I said, a Group-D employee who was there is being interrogated. Presently we have detained two people," he said.
Gowda said prima facie it appears that the fire happened due to a highly inflammable material benzene, which is used for testing the strength of asphalt.
According to him, the FSL teams and scientific officers arrived on the spot and collected proof. The incident happened days after the Congress government ordered a judicial probe into all the works in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) during the BJP rule from 2019 to 2023.
This apart, the government formed four panels headed by IAS officers.
The nine injured have sustained burns on their faces and hands, according to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and DCM Shivakumar.
The Congress in Karnataka drew flak for its tweet on the fire accident, which it deleted later. Minutes after the incident, the Congress in Karnataka tweeted from its official handle saying that the fire incident was not an accident but a conspiracy.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal tweeted that the Congress Twitter handle is just like the Congress party which runs away after making allegations.
"The unbridled inept people write whatever comes to their mind and when we question their authenticity, they delete the tweet and run away," Patil tweeted.
He also said, "Wasn’t there a nobleman who said that action will be taken against those who spread fake news? Where has he disappeared?"
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Karnataka procured 16 lakh expired RT-PCR kits during Covid wave: D’Cunha commission
Bengaluru: Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s committee has uncovered significant irregularities in the procurement of medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that more than 16 lakh RT-PCR test kits purchased by Karnataka in 2022 under the BJP-led government were either expired or close to their expiry dates.
After irregularities in PPE kit purchases, ventilators have also come under the scanner, with the report highlighting discrepancies amounting to Rs 173.26 crore in purchases made by the Medical Education Department.
The commission has also found that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd. (KSMSCL) that cancelled a supply order for one lakh Rapid Antigen (RAT) kits placed with a Singapore-based company in March 2020 — for delay in supplying — has not recovered the Rs 6.99 crore paid to the company towards the order, as reported by The Hindu on Thursday.
According to the 279-page report on procurements made by the KSMSCL that is compiled in part IV of the report, a payment of Rs 148.84 crore was made by KSMSCL to various suppliers and firms towards procurement of RT-PCR kits from 2020 to 2022.
The Commission’s report, as cited by the publication, stated that there were records indicating procurement of RT-PCR kits, RNA extraction kits and Viral transport media (VTM) of a total value of Rs 106.25 crore during the pandemic in Karnataka. However, according to the report, this procurement was made without administrative approval.
“Since the KSMSCL has failed to discharge its obligation and responsibility, the loss caused to the State exchequer to this extent is required to be replenished by the erring officers and/or officials of the KSMSCL as well as the officers and/or officials of the consignee designated laboratories who received the consignment,” the report said, pegging the losses due to expired kits supplied by companies at Rs 3.11 crore.
In response to the report’s findings, state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao criticised the saffron party for profiting from the pandemic. He promised accountability for the irregularities involving PPE kits and ventilators, stating that those responsible would face punishment.
