The Supreme Court has come down heavily on the Gujarat govt for easing hospital building safety rules. While putting a stay on the state govt order that no action would be taken against buildings without "Building Use Permission" till March next year, the top court said that in effort 'to save people in the pandemic the govt was killing them with fire'.
The Gujarat govt argued that it was only easing building use permission rules and not the fire safety norms.
Eight Covid patients were killed in a fire in August last year at Shrey Hospital in Ahmedabad. In November, six people died at Rajkot's Uday Shivanand Hospital. The police said the fire started in the ICU. In May, 18 people died in another hospital fire, in Bharuch.
The Supreme Court had ordered fire safety audits for hospitals across India after these incidents.