Laloo describes train collision as 'brutal murder' Tuesday, December 14 2004 22:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time
Mukerian (Punjab):
Describing the collision between the two passenger trains which killed 34 people in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district today (Dec 14, 2004) as a 'brutal murder',
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad today said the two station masters will be booked on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for allowing the trains on the same track.
"It is not an accident but a brutal murder and the two station masters of Bangara and Chak Kalan and an engineer who allowed the Jalandhar Pathankot DMU passenger and the Jammu Tawi Ahmedabad Express to move on the same track will be booked under 304 A (culpable homicide) of IPC," he told reporters at the site of the accident.
After inspecting the accident site and later visiting the civil hospital in Mukerian, Laloo put the death toll at 31 and the number of seriously injured as 16, all of whom were admitted in local hospitals.
The other injured passengers had been discharged after medical treatment.
The Minister announced Rs 1.15 lakh ex-gratia and a job to each family of the dead.
In addition he announced Rs 4 lakh under the passengers' insurance scheme to each family of the dead.
The Railway Minister said it would take four to five hours for restoration of the traffic as the priority was to provide rescue and relief to the victims.
The track would be cleared of the debris and opened to traffic after carrying out necessary repairs, Prasad added.
He did not rule out the chances of more bodies being trapped in the mangled bogies.
The Minister said all the single line sections will soon be converted into double lines as these also catered to border areas.
During the last seven months of his tenure no such accident had taken place, he said.
Minister of State for Railways R Velu, Chairman of the Railway Board R K Singh and other officers accompanies the Minister.
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