Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, Feb 10 (PTI) The Orissa High Court today directed the state government to immediately file a status report on the hooch tragedy that claimed 33 lives in Cuttack and Khurda districts. Converting a letter into a PIL, a division bench of Chief Justice V Gopala Gowda and Justice B N Mohapatra asked the excise commissioner to file details about action taken on an earlier order passed in November 2011 to check the trade in illicit liquor in the state. The high court also asked the health secretary to personally visit the hospital and monitor the treatment of the victims. Nationalists Lawyers Forum secretary Nishikant Mishra made the letter petition to the Chief Justice on Wednesday alleging that victims were not being given proper treatment and there was fear that the death toll would mount further. Meanwhile, official sources said that the state government appointed Justice (retd) A S Naidu, former judge of Orissa High Court, to head the inquiry commission into the liquor deaths. The number of victims being treated at various hospitals was pegged at 81. A report from Cuttack said that 15 patients left hospital against the advice of doctors, which was reported to the police. Hospital sources said three victims were in a critical condition in the ICU, while six others had lost their vision. Hospital emergency officer B N Moharana said that barring the three patients in ICU, the condition of the remaining were stable and nearly 90 per cent of them would be discharged in the next 24 hours. Meanwhile, two personnel of a pharmaceutical company based in Bhubaneswar were arrested for the liquor deaths. PTI COR SKN PC
