This is no time for politics

Manoj Sinha

Minister of State for Railways

No doubt the horrific accident that occurred on the railway tracks in Amritsar on the ill-fated Friday evening during Ravana dahan as part of the Dasehra celebrations was avoidable, but the Railways can’t be blamed for any lapses on its part. Loss of precious lives, however, pains me beyond comprehension and my heart goes to those innocent people, who lost their lives.

At this juncture, I will not prefer going for scoring brownie political points, as the time is not right for it. But I must say that there was no provision of barricading along the railway tracks across the country. This was a very unfortunate incident, and I believe that politics should not be done on this issue.

Intending only to put the record straight, I must say, the Railways was never informed that the Dasehra event would be conducted near the Joda Phatak vicinity in Amritsar either by the area administration or the event organisers. The Commissioner (Amritsar), in his report, has said he has not granted permission to hold the Dasehra festival celebrations at that spot.

On Friday, a 700-strong crowd watching a huge effigy of Ravana go up in flames amid exploding crackers spilt on to the tracks at Joda Phatak when the Jalandhar-Amritsar DMU passenger train heading to Hoshiarpur from Amritsar came hurtling down that ill-fated evening. The event’s venue did not even fall under the Railways as it was nearly 70 m away from the tracks, where the accident took place.

The organisers should have realised the danger of holding events so close to a railway track. It was not the fault of the Railways. The department was not informed of any such event being organised there. When such events are organised, the local administration grants permission but the officials denied giving permission.

The level-crossing is about 300 m away from the place of incident. The railway track is at some height, and when the Ravana effigy was burnt, people couldn’t hear the horn of the train due to crackers being burnt at the time, and thus the unfortunate incident took place.

Since law and order is essentially a state subject, the Punjab Government will definitely take appropriate action and as the information is available, Chief Minister Amarindar Singh has already announced an inquiry into the incident. Drivers are pre-briefed by the Railway authorities about where they have to slow the speed or blow a horn. There is a curve at the place of incident and driver might have not seen the people on the track. In this hour of grief, the Indian Railways and, for that matter, the entire Central government is with the people of Punjab and the state government. We are in touch with the Punjab Government and assure every possible medical help to the people injured in the tragic incident.