MADURAI: Citing Rs 10 lakh compensation given to the kin of victims in the recent hooch tragedy, the Madurai bench of Madras High Court directed the State government to pay Rs 10 lakh as damages to the kin of a worker who succumbed to burns he suffered while handling medical waste at Manapparai Primary Health Centre, Tiruchy.

Arjunan, a daily wager, had moved the court stating his son Kalaiyarasan, a domestic breeding checker, was asked to dispose of discarded medical waste along with garbage in the backyard of Government PHC on June 26, last year, and while doing so, the expired medicines exploded, leaving him with 80% burns. Though admitted to Manappari GH, he succumbed after three days on June 29. The petitioner contended that his son's death was due to negligence and sought Rs 25 lakh in compensation. The respondent and government advocate argued that the petitioner's son had burnt the medical waste on his own and not based on any instruction.

Justice GR Swaminathan observed that the victim, in his dying declaration had stated that he was asked to burn the garbage, a disposal not contemplated by law. The judge further observed that when the family of a person who knowingly consumed spurious liquor and died can be given Rs 10 lakh by the State, the father of an innocent victim who died burning medical waste deserves no less.