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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Ficci vents AMRI fury

Ficci vents AMRI fury

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published Published on Jan 3, 2012   modified Modified on Jan 3, 2012

-The Telegraph


The dam burst today.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has issued a public statement on the AMRI fire and subsequent arrests, demanding the immediate release of those “not responsible for day-to-day operations of any business”.

“Those who are not found guilty and are not responsible for day-to-day operations of any business should be released immediately,” said the statement titled “Ficci’s stand on fire at AMRI Hospital”.

The police arrested seven of the 14 AMRI directors after the fire on December 9 killed 91 people. Six directors — S.K. Todi (69), Ravi Todi (42), Prashant Goenka (38), Manish Goenka (37), Radheshyam Goenka (65) and Dayanand Agarwal (64) — are now lodged at Alipore Central Jail. The other arrested director — R.S. Agarwal (67) — is undergoing treatment at SSKM Hospital.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s forceful intervention and rapid action were credited with defusing the explosive mood outside the hospital on the morning of December 9. The situation had appeared to spin out of control after it emerged that the hospital delayed in alerting the fire brigade.

As days passed without any fresh arrests, a perception that only some industrialists were being picked out began to gather ground. Resentment has been building up among industry representatives who feel the crackdown was not “completely non-discriminatory”.

But none had summoned the courage to speak out in public till now.

Ficci deliberated on the matter for long before issuing the statement, Rajiv Kumar, the federation’s secretary general, told The Telegraph today. At Ficci, Kumar is the immediate successor to Amit Mitra, now the finance minister of Bengal.

“There has been widespread simmering discontent from the membership on this issue. The chamber thinks those who were responsible should be punished. But this must happen in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. We have felt that it was not completely non-discriminatory,” said Kumar.

While the administration is leaving no stone unturned to build a strong case against the accused — charged under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC — the concern expressed in the Ficci statement is resonating across boardrooms in Bengal and beyond.

The business fraternity has raised the following peeve points:

Why are all those arrested being tarred with the same brush, when the probe has already revealed who were involved in the day-to-day running of AMRI Dhakuria and who were not?

Why have the others on the board, namely the doctors and the government representative, not been arrested? (Allegations have surfaced that the administration has gone soft on doctors M.K. Chhetri and Pronab Dasgupta and director of medical education Sushanta Banerjee, who are also AMRI directors.)

In the current industrial climate, Bengal has become a pariah for outsiders and with the treatment meted out to the Agarwals and the Goenkas, the owners of the Emami Group and among the biggest investors here, misgivings are spreading among Calcutta-based industrialists as well.

Besides demanding the release of the directors and expressing deep distress at the “most unfortunate” fire tragedy, the Ficci statement echoed such concerns. “This (release of those not involved in day-to-day operations) is only fair and will also prevent the spread of any negative sentiments within the domestic investor community and encourage future philanthropic activity under which more hospitals have been established,” the federation said.

“It is important, in our view, that a distinction is made in dealing with errors of omissions and intentional acts of commission,” the statement added. “It is important to fix the responsibility of those directly involved in managing the hospital and distinguish them from others. This should be undertaken transparently and objectively.”

The federation added that “those who are found guilty after such an enquiry should be punished without any discrimination or favour. Such a step will act as a necessary deterrent against any future negligence or malafide actions.”

A week ago, Lalbazar, the police headquarters, was approached by some industry representatives who wondered why the police were not being lenient with “some of those arrested who had nothing to do with the day-to-day running of AMRI Dhakuria”.

Over the weekend, some members of the city-based industry chambers had met a close aide of Mamata and conveyed their concerns.

The message did reach the chief minister. However, sources said Mamata iterated that bringing justice to those who lost their loved ones in the tragedy was the “only priority” of the government.

The chief minister is also known to have conveyed to the Lalbazar investigation team over the weekend that it should not worry about any impediments in the path of the probe.

Signals from industry suggest it will not be long before the AMRI crackdown and the new government’s approach to industrialisation get entangled.

“The last 30 years have not been all that great for Bengal. The state has to reverse the trend and everybody is expecting that with the change in the political guard. What is happening will not contribute to the positive change Bengal is ushering in,” Ficci chief Kumar said over the phone.

In the statement, Ficci said it desired to “work closely with the Government of West Bengal to promote investment and accelerate economic activity across all sectors of the economy”.

But the statement added: “A judicious, non-discriminatory and objective handling of the AMRI case will go a long way in restoring the investors’ confidence and allow Ficci to play its due role in West Bengal”.


The Telegraph, 2 January, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120103/jsp/frontpage/story_14955811.jsp


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