Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge has approached the Civil Aviation Ministry for an enquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) into the train accident at Dhamara Ghat in Khagaria district of Bihar on Monday morning.
The CRS comes under Civil Aviation Ministry. At least 37 people, mostly kanwarias, were run over by Rajyarani Express while walking on the track to reach a nearby temple to offer prayers on the last Monday of the holy month of Shravan.
As BJP joined arch-rivals RJD and the lJP in taking on Railways and Bihar Government, Kharge told the Rajya Sabha that he spoke to Nitish Kumar asking to ensure maintenance of law and order and necessary steps for facilitating normal train operations.
“At about 8.50 am, Train number 12567 Rajyarani Express was passing through Dhamara Ghat Railway Station. The loco pilot after passing the home signal, which was on a curvature, saw some persons standing on the track and applied emergency brakes. However, by the time train stopped, some persons got run over,” Kharge said in the Rajya Sabha.
An agitated mob burnt few coaches of Rajyarani express. Medical relief train left from Barauni at 9.55 am. The DRM of Samastipur along with his team of doctors and officers started from Samastipur at 10.50 am.
“On humanitarian grounds an ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh for those who lost their lives and Rs 1 lakh for those grievously injured has been announced,” he said.
As soon as the Rajya Sabha met for Zero Hour, Ram Vilas Paswan (lJP) and Ram Kripal Yadav (RJD) were on their feet and claimed no relief measure has reached the mishap site. Both the leaders were soon joined by BJP members who also stood on their feet, holding Bihar Government responsible for the accident.
Railways officials claimed the train was running on its scheduled route and did not jump the signal, as speculated earlier. The train was not scheduled to stop at the station where this accident happened.
Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar claimed Dhamara Ghat is a three-track station and two trains (Madhepura-Samastipur Passenger and Samastipur-Madhepura passenger) were already standing at the station. “The crowd was moving on the third track. A super fast train was coming on that track and they were run over,” Kumar said.
Railway official faced problem in rescue and relief work as Dhamara Ghat has no road link and the railway track to the station was damaged by the local after the mishap. Accident Relief Trains were also dispatched from Barauni and Saharsa Stations but they were stuck for several hours Mansi and Koparia Railway Stations.
Four trains were cancelled and four others were partially cancelled after the mishap at track were damaged or had been blocked by the locals. Helplines have been set up Patna, Samastipur, Mansi and Khagaria to provide information about the accident.