Ashok Gehlot demands judicial probe into SMS hospital fire tragedy
"How many times have we seen such negligence?" Gehlot said in a post on social media. "In Jhalawar, we saw children die - sometimes due to cough syrup, other times due to system failures.
Jaipur: Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday demanded a judicial commission probe into the tragic fire incident at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital, which claimed the lives of eight people and left several others injured. Calling the incident a result of “systemic negligence”, Gehlot said such tragedies have become all too common in Rajasthan. Referring to earlier incidents, he recalled the Jhalawar school roof collapse, in which seven children lost their lives, and the recent deaths linked to cough syrup consumption among children.
“How many times have we seen such negligence?” Gehlot said in a post on social media. “In Jhalawar, we saw children die – sometimes due to cough syrup, other times due to system failures. This time, it was a fire,” he said. Describing the situation at SMS Hospital as unprecedented, he said, “Families were crying, asking, ‘Where are the bodies of our loved ones?’ The chaos that night was unlike anything I’ve seen before.” He further criticised the state government’s response, stating that Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma should have visited the hospital that night and offered support to the grieving families.
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“Had the Chief Minister met them and shown empathy, it would have sent a message that the government cared. But no one even spoke to them. Their anger was justified – and it only grew,” he said. Gehlot, who visited the site himself, described the aftermath as devastating. “The hospital ward was completely gutted.
Some say the victims died of suffocation, but the level of negligence is undeniable.” Rejecting the government’s decision to form a short-term internal committee to investigate the incident, he emphasised the need for a judicial inquiry. “This committee will submit a report in seven days, suspend a few officials, and close the case. But I’ve said from day one: only a judicial commission can investigate the root causes, recommend long-term reforms, and ensure such tragedies never happen again – in any hospital or school in Rajasthan.”
