Amravati: BJP state Mahila Morcha Ppesident Chitra Wagh has demanded a police inquiry into conflicting claims by the district civil surgeon and PWD officials over the fire audit of the District Women’s Hospital, where three newborns died in a fire in the SNCU last Monday.Wagh visited the hospital on Saturday along with Rajya Sabha MP Dr Anil Bonde, MLA Pratap Adsad, city BJP president Dr Nitin Dhande, mayor Shrichand Tejwani, and party spokesperson Shivrai Kulkarni. She held discussions with district collector and civil surgeon for nearly three hours before addressing the media.Wagh said civil surgeon Dr Vinod Pawar told her that the hospital had written to the PWD for a fire audit on June 25, 2026.In contrast, PWD engineer Sagar Shende claimed – reportedly in the presence of the collector – that his team visited the hospital on June 30, 2026 after receiving the letter, and again on August 22, 2026.The hospital administration, however, maintains no PWD team ever came for a fire audit, Wagh said. “Either the civil surgeon is telling the truth or the PWD engineer is. The facts must come out through a police investigation,” she said.Wagh said the PWD is citing the signature of a junior clerk, Sanap, as proof of its visit. “Can a junior clerk certify a fire audit of a 400-bed hospital?” she asked.She added that when she contacted the PWD chief engineer, she was first told personnel had visited for a fire audit, but later the visit was described as being for repair work.Wagh demanded that CCTV footage of the hospital for June 30 and August 22 be preserved and examined to verify who actually visited.She also questioned why the fire alarm and sprinkler system failed to function if, as claimed, the safety system was fully operational. She sought a probe into allegations that the alarm was switched off as it was repeatedly sounding, and who ordered the sprinkler system to be shut.She also raised questions about the technical competence of the third-party firms assigned the audit – AFS and earlier SR Associates – to audit a large hospital.On reports of a Rs 9cr fund crunch, Wagh said the civil surgeon told her there was no shortage of funds. While the state has already appointed an inquiry committee, Wagh said a departmental probe alone is not enough.“A police investigation is essential to fix responsibility for the death of three newborns and to establish whether a fire audit was actually conducted, what its findings were, and what action was taken,” she said.
