Andhra Dy CM Pawan Kalyan’s son injured in Singapore school fire that kills 10-year-old girl
Singapore/Vijayawada, Apr 8 (PTI): A 10-year-old girl died and 20 others, including Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s son, were injured after a fire broke out in a Singapore building on Tuesday, authorities said.
The blaze erupted at a three-storey shophouse on River Valley Road, near Singapore's Central Business District (CBD), housing several businesses, including a cooking school, a theatre group and a robotics institute for children.
Kalyan’s younger son, Mark Shankar, sustained injuries in the fire at the school, his Jana Sena Party said in a statement released in Vijayawada.
The incident caused burns to Mark’s hands and legs, while smoke inhalation also affected his lungs and he is currently receiving treatment in a hospital there, the Party said.
The Party, in a Facebook post, said Kalyan would travel to Singapore after completing his earlier commitments.
Channel News Asia quoted Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, who confirmed the fatality of the 10-year-old girl in the fire at the shophouse on the outskirts of the CBD.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), in a Facebook post, said at least 20 people, including 15 children, have been taken to hospitals.
Videos shared on social media showed black smoke billowing from the building and children perched on a third-floor ledge. Several bystanders, including construction workers, were seen climbing the scaffolding to rescue the stranded people.
Rescue ladders and a combined platform ladder were deployed to rescue the rest of the stranded people on the ledge, while firefighters proceeded to extinguish the blaze on the second and third floors of the building.
Police and SCDF personnel evacuated around 80 people from the building and nearby premises and as many as 20 persons were taken to hospital.
“Our immediate priority is to provide urgent medical care to these patients and to lend support to the caregivers,” Associate Professor Sashikumar Ganapathy, head and senior consultant at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the K K Women's and Children's Hospital, said.
The cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained and an investigation is underway, the SCDF said.
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Maharashtra sets up state vaccination task force to strengthen immunisation programme
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has set up a State Vaccination Task Force to strengthen the regular immunisation programme and review the progress of related campaigns, a health department official said on Monday.
The State Vaccination Task Force will comprise at least 29 members and will be headed by the administrative head of the health department, he informed.
The government has also constituted separate district-level and municipal vaccination task forces to improve implementation and address challenges at the grassroots level, he said.
Municipal task forces, chaired by respective civic commissioners, have been constituted in view of the vast urban population in Maharashtra and the role of civic bodies in implementing different health programmes.
The district-level task forces will function under the chairmanship of collectors.
"Complete immunisation of children at the appropriate age is an extremely simple, cost-effective and highly effective measure to reduce child mortality and the prevalence of diseases among kids. Immunisation is a powerful tool for reducing illness in children," maintained the official.
To ensure full vaccination of all children, the state government implements various campaigns from time to time as per the central government guidelines, he pointed out.
"Active participation and cooperation of other relevant government departments are essential (in making these campaigns successful)," according to the official.
The state-level body will review the regular immunisation programme, associated campaigns and vaccine-preventable diseases in detail. It will also conduct focused assessments of high-risk districts and municipal corporations, including vacancies at district, municipal and sub-district levels, availability of cold chain equipment, resource gaps and training requirements, he noted.
The state task force will review allocation and utilisation of funds for immunisation and ensure timely action by officers concerned based on reports from district and municipal task forces and state-level monitoring mechanisms, the official said.
It will also ensure active coordination and participation of other government departments in immunisation drives, while district and municipal task forces will carry out similar functions at their respective levels, the official added.
