Bhubaneswar, June 13 (IANS) The toll in the tragic triple train accident in Odisha's Balasore on Tuesday rose to 289 with the death of a man from Bihar while undergoing treatment, an official said.
Bijay Paswan, from Bihar's Motihari district, succumbed to his injuries at SCB Medical College and Hospital.
Paswan, along with six others, had boarded the Coromandel Express on June 2 from Howrah to visit Kerala's Palakkad. While one of them had died at the accident spot, another died today.
He was initially admitted to the Balasore district headquarter hospital and then shifted to the central ICU of SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack with cervical spine injury and quadriplegia.
"The health condition of Paswan was stable when he was admitted at the hospital. However, his condition gradually deteriorated and yesterday, when his oxygen level started falling, we put him on a ventilator. Medicines given to raise his blood pressure too. Despite all efforts, he could not survive and passed away due to cardiac arrest," Professor Sudhanshu Sekhar Mishra, superintendent, SCB Medical College, said.
He also informed that the condition of another three people under treatment at the hospital is critical.
Kidneys of two other persons are not functioning properly while the brain of another was operated upon and his lungs also not functioning properly, said Mishra.
Last week, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, while extending a red carpet welcome to industrialists and entrepreneurs to invest in Punjab, said the state would emerge as industrial hub of the country.
The SAD chief told the media here that the party would stick to its core principles, including the need for a true federal structure, taking all sections of society and people from all religious faiths with it. He said SAD, the oldest regional party with a 102-year-old track record, would continue to rise to serve the regional aspirations of people of Punjab.
Police have also recovered a cache of 55 pistols of .32 bore and .30 bore from their possession. The accused were apprehended from Madhya Pradesh by the Counter Intelligence unit of Punjab Police with the help of its counterparts in Madhya Pradesh.
Lingayat seer Dr Murugha Shivamurthy Sharanaru, accused of raping minor girls, was finally taken into custody by the Karnataka Police on Thursday night - six days after the FIR against him was lodged. Police sources said the accused seer will be produced before a court on Friday.
Taking umbrage at the Union Minister's new plan on how the future of Chandigarh would be decided, Badal said: "It is not in the ambit of Shekhawat to take a decision on this matter. This is a closed chapter. The UT status of Chandigarh is purely temporary pending transfer to Punjab."
Mann said in another significant decision, the state government has now decided to appoint Chief Minister Field Officers as Nodal Officers for NRIs to ensure redressal of their grievances. He said that these officers will prove to be an ideal Nodal Officer for NRIs as they will be effectively able to coordinate across departments and districts, besides having a direct communication with the Chief Minister's Office.
