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Amarjeet Singh Gill from Canada fell in dirty toilet of Calcutta Airport- suffered brain haemorrhage and a skull fracture.

 

Canada NRI slipped and Fell in dirty toilet of Calcutta airport
- Still in critical state at Hospital

Airport ignores strike victim
- Flier who fell in dirty toilet still in critical condition; mess to be cleared by morning

Calcutta, March 13, 2008
A Staff Reporter
The Telegraph. Calcutta

The airport agitation was withdrawn on Thursday evening, but there is no end in sight for strike victim Amarjeet Singh Gill’s ordeal.

The 55-year-old non-resident Indian from Canada, who slipped and fell on the slushy floor of an unclean toilet in the domestic lounge of Calcutta airport on Wednesday, continued to be in “a critical state” in the Neuro Intensive Care Unit of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals.

Gill had suffered brain haemorrhage and a skull fracture. “The cerebrospinal fluid, a clear bodily fluid which protects the brain, is leaking. We are administering drugs to stop the leak. He is complaining of giddiness and headache,” said Binod Kumar Singhania, the neuro-surgeon supervising his treatment.

The blood clot in the brain would take “at least three weeks to dissolve”, observed Singhania.

Gill, who reached Calcutta from Amritsar on Day I of the “non-cooperation movement” by the Airports Authority Employees’ Union (AAEU), has not been given a helping hand by the airport authorities.

“In some cases, where the patient who has suffered an accident at the airport does not get insurance coverage, a note is sent to the hospital concerned to clear the bills. But in this case, no such letter was issued,” said an airport official.

“We provided all help to him at the airport but there is no question of paying the hospital bills, as he has insurance,” said another official.

Hospital sources, however said that till late on Thursday, Gill had not submitted any insurance papers.

According to legal experts, Gill can seek compensation from the airport authorities, as the accident occurred “primarily due to their negligence”. Prabir Basu, an advocate and a member of the state consumer protection council, said: “It is the duty of the airport authorities to ensure toilets are properly maintained.... In this case, they are guilty of deficiency in service.” (See box)

Harassment was the order of the day at Calcutta airport as the workers’ agitation raised a stink at both the domestic and international terminals. Vital services, from cleanliness to trolleys, were hit as passengers braved the filth and struggled with their baggage.

Dhruv Kumar, a businessman from Mumbai, who arrived at Calcutta airport around noon, barged into the office of the domestic airport manager to protest the mess.

“This is ridiculous! Why can’t cleaners be hired to do the job? I was told the agitating union would not allow that but I wasn’t convinced that the officials were doing enough to tackle the problem,” he said.

The fact that Citu was enforcing the workers’ strike — demanding that the Centre keep open the existing airports in Hyderabad and Bangalore even after alternative facilities get off the ground — Calcutta airport was the worst affected.

Sundeep Agarwal, a techie who went to Bangalore on Wednesday morning and returned to Calcutta via Delhi late on Thursday, said: “Of all the three airports, Calcutta was by far the worst. The Citu members and the passengers were both to blame. At the other airports, people were making a conscious effort to keep at least the waiting lounge clean. But Calcutta airport resembled one big garbage dump. Sadly, civic sense is the least in this city.”

That is what prompted S.K. Mitra, retired deputy inspector-general of the BSF, to start picking up the litter strewn at the entrance of the domestic terminal and dumping it into the dustbins. He got no other volunteers.

But the airport should clean up its act by the time the first flight takes off on Friday. Airport officials said the agitating employees would join work in the night shift. “We are expecting everything to be in order soon after midnight. It will take a few hours to clean the premises,” they said.