SILCHAR: Four cops managing traffic in south Assam’s Silchar were suspended Thursday for briefly stopping an ambulance ferrying a critically ill patient the previous day to let CM Himanta Biswa Sarma’s convoy pass.The action, coinciding with the 47-year-old cirrhosis patient’s death at Silchar Medical College and Hospital, came a day after Himanta ordered an inquiry and publicly apologised to the family for what he termed an “unacceptable” violation of his standing order not to inconvenience ordinary citizens in the name of VIP movement.
Rules re-issued
The ambulance taking deceased Rasaraj Chakraborty to hospital had to stop for about four minutes near Ramnagar ISBT as police cleared the route for Sarma’s convoy. The CM came to know about it after a video purportedly showing the ambulance waiting for his convoy to pass did the rounds of social media platforms.“Emergency medical care must take precedence over VIP movement,” Sarma said. “Under no circumstances should the movement of ambulances or other emergency vehicles be impeded on account of VIP convoy arrangements.”He warned that guidelines governing convoy movement must be implemented “in letter and spirit”.While condoling Chakraborty’s death a day later, the CM said the unfortunate culmination of his disease and the ambulance being stopped on the way to hospital were unconnected. “The patient was suffering from a critical liver ailment and his death is not related to the brief halt,” he told reporters in Nagaon.He iterated anyone in the CM’s chair was “merely a chief servant” and “new Assam has no place for VIP culture”.Chakraborty’s wife said the family had lost its breadwinner and appealed to Sarma for assistance. “He has left behind two children. I urge the chief minister to help my family survive in the absence of its lone earning member.”
