Days after the Maharashtra government announced Rs 5 lakh for the families of those infants who died in the Bhandara district general hospital fire on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday approved an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund to such families and announced Rs 50,000 to those who were seriously injured.
The PM’s announcement comes after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of the Parliament (MP) from Bhandara Sunil Mendhe demanded that the state government should give a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the deceased. He made a strong case for a judicial inquiry or a probe by a retired judge into Saturday's incident in which 10 newborns died in a fire at the Bhandara district general hospital.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Devendra Fadnavis thanked PM Narendra Modi for the timely support to the families who suffered an extremely painful loss in the fire. He also demanded the state should pay a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and immediately clear a plan for the upgradation of the Bhandara district general hospital. He called upon the government to register an offence for culpable homicide.
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