2 min readBhubaneswarMar 18, 2026 08:21 PM IST
Three days after the massive fire at the trauma care ICU of SCB medical college and hospital, Cuttack that claimed 12 lives, the state government Wednesday suspended four junior officials.
The suspended officials are Prakash Kumar Jena, deputy fire officer; Sanjeeb Behera, assistant fire officer of Cuttack circle; Abhinab Prusty, station officer of SCB medical college; and Ranjan Kumar Biswal, the assistant executive engineer, general electrical division, SCB division, said officials.
A fire broke out in the ICU of the trauma care centre at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack in the early hours of March 16. There were 23 patients in the ICU at the time.
Twelve patients died, many of them critically ill and on ventilators. The fire is believed to have been caused by a short circuit, though the exact cause is a subject of investigation.
A statement from the chief minister’s office said the four officials were suspended for dereliction of duty. The action was taken based on the findings of an inter-departmental fact-finding committee headed by development commissioner DK Singh.
The state government has also ordered a judicial probe into the blaze that was caused due to suspected short circuit. The suspension of four junior officials also came at a time when the opposition BJD and Congress have been demanding the resignation of health minister Mukesh Mahaling.
The Odisha Assembly also failed to transact any business in the first half as the Opposition MLAs stalled the proceedings. They also held a mock funeral to lodge their symbolic protest of the “death of the state’s health department.”
