PHOTO DD NEWS
AMN /Amritsar / NEW DELHI
A day after 61 people watching a Ravan effigy being burnt in Amritsar, the railways has decided not to hold a probe against the driver of the DMU that was involved in the Amritsar rail tragedy.
The Railways has strongly denied any responsibility for the accident and said they were not intimated about the Dussehra event along the tracks either by the area administration or the event organisers.
Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani, who visited the accident site in Amritsar’s Joda Phatak last night, said the incident did not take place at a level crossing, but at a stretch between two stations, where people are not expected to be standing on the rail tracks.
“At midsections, trains run at their assigned speed and people are not expected to be on the tracks. At midsections, there is no railway staff posted. We have staff at level crossings whose job is to regulate traffic,” Mr Lohani said.
Meanwhile, plying of all trains from the Amritsar railway station has been withheld subject to security clearance from the state government.
Security has been beefed up in and around the railway station to avert any untoward situation arising out of the possible protests by people.
As per the train speedometer, the DMU was running at 91 kmph when the accident took place. During the accident the speedometer also got damaged.
Railway officials refused to reveal the identity of the driver, who said that after noticing the people he applied the brakes to bring down the speed but it was too late.
Meanwhile Punjab Police commandos and Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed at the site of a train accident at Amritsar, which claimed 61 lives, to manage a huge crowd. A heavy police deployment has been made to keep the situation in order.
The accident took place near Amritsar, when a train ran through the crowd that had assembled across the tracks to watch the Dussehra event.
At least 59 people were killed and 57 injured on Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilled onto railway tracks while watching burning of Ravana effigy was run over by a train.
The train was coming from Jalandhar when the accident occurred at Joda Phatak near Amritsar, where at least 300 people were watching ‘Ravana dahan’ at a ground adjacent to the tracks.
Expressing shock over tragic accident, Railway MInister Piyush Goyal said that Railways is conducting immediate relief and rescue operations.
He has cancelled his engagements in the US and immediately returning to India.
Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the family of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured.
RAILWAYS ISSUES HELPLINE NUMBERS
Railways has issued helpline numbers for the kin of those injured and dead in the accident between Manawala and Ferozpur stations near Amritsar.
Helpline Numbers at Manawala station are 0183-2440024, 0183-2402927 and Ferozpur’s helpline number is 01632-1072.