CHENNAI: In all, there were only 18 deaths and none of them was due to drowning, the Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Tramua (MIOT) Hospital in Manapakkam has told Madras High Court on Tuesday.
Even the 18 deaths were being enquired and probed properly. Post-mortems conducted on the bodies at the government hospitals had not revealed any death due to drowning or under any suspicious circumstances, hospital managing director Dr PVA Mohandass submitted in his counter-affidvit filed in the High Court.
The counter was filed in response to a PIL from activist KR Ramaswamy alleging that there were more casualties due to lack of oxygen as the generators had drowned in the deluge. It was constructed without any permission from the authorities on the low lying area on the river bed, he had alleged.
Denying this, the MD submitted that the hospital building is 193 meters away from the banks of Adayar river. There was Lotta Chocolate company situated in between the hospital building and the river. It had been constructed 10 meters above the Mean Sea Level (MSL), by well known construction company Larson and Toubro (L&T).
The District Collector submitted that the hospital was not built on poromboke land and stood on patta land and hence the question of encroachment did not arise.
The First Bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice MM Sundresh, before which the counter was filed, posted the matter for further hearing on March 31.