Sharda Sinha’s last rites: Nitish Kumar announces state honours
Bihar's beloved folk singer Sharda Sinha will be laid to rest with state honours, as announced by CM Nitish Kumar, following her passing on November 5.
In a major development, hundreds of human skeletal remains were reportedly found in a forest area behind Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur.
The discovery comes at a time when Bihar is reeling from the rising number of child deaths due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES), the most being reported from Muzzafarpur.
An investigation team of SKMCH hospital accompanied by policemen visited the spot on Saturday.
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According to a report in ANI, a few dead bodies were found charred while hundreds of skeletons were found strewn on the ground or stuffed into sacks in the forest area near the state-run hospital.
“After postmortem, all the bodies are dumped in the forest behind the hospital. I never tried to ask the authorities about these skeletons” caretaker of SKMCH, Janak Paswan told ANI.
“The postmortem department takes care of the dead bodies. This is really inhuman if they have dumped the bodies in open. We will ask their department head to call an inquiry regarding the matter” Superintendent SK Shahi said.
Meanwhile, Bihar Health Department has given an order for an investigation into the matter.
Police have said that “unclaimed bodies are burnt in the forest area”.
SKMCH is currently battling with an influx of cases of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). So far, the hospital has reported 108 deaths.
The disease has reportedly killed over 150 children in Bihar over the past three weeks although officials have confirmed a lower number of deaths.
Earlier on Tuesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar visited the Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital in Muzaffarpur district to take stock of the situation.
This was the CM’s first visit to the district since the outbreak of AES.
Following his visit, Kumar announced a series of directions to be taken in view of the deaths.
He had announced reimbursement of the travel expenses borne by the patients and also ordered the conversion of SKMCH into a 2500-bed hospital, which currently has only 610 beds.
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