M A I N   N E W S

The crucial two minutes

SARAI BANJARA (Punjab), Dec 2 (PTI) — There was a short span of just two minutes between derailment of the goods train and collision of the Howrah-Amritsar Mail with it, senior railway officials said today.

Ambala Divisional Railway Manager Vijay Kumar told Punjab Governor J.F.R. Jacob that the goods train driver, on noticing a fall in the brake pressure, immediately alerted the guard at the rear.

The two then found that some wagons of the goods train had already derailed and fallen on the track, including the adjoining Ambala-Ludhiana track on which the Howrah Mail was expected to pass.

The goods train crew tried to contact the Howrah Mail driver and the nearest station here, which immediately gave a warning signal, but by that time Howrah Mail, which does not have a stop at Sarai Banjara, had crossed the station at its normal speed.

Mr Vijay Kumar told the Governor that the driver of Howrah Mail noticed the signal fired by the goods train crew and even applied the emergency brakes on seeing the signal, but it was too late to stop the train.

He told the Governor that there was only a gap of two minutes between the derailment of the goods train after it had crossed the Sadhu Garh Railway Station and subsequent ramming of Howrah Mail into it.

The distance between the two stations is just 8 km.

Compensation announced for victims
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Dec 2 — Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 2 lakh for each of the families of those killed and Rs 1 lakh for the injured in the mishap involving the Amritsar-Howrah Mail and the derailed wagons of a goods train in Punjab early today.

The amount will be in addition to Rs 4 lakh to be paid to the next of kin of the deceased by the tribunal. The Railway Minister ordered a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the apex court into the accident, according to her personal assistant Ratan Mukherjee.

List of injured
Tribune News Service

PATIALA, Dec 2 - The following is the list of those injured in the Jeewanpur train accident.

Om Prakash, resident of Gill Road Shuttering Store, Moga, Boota Masih of Dharampur Bagga, Batala, Bhola of Rai Bareilly, Vipin Kumar of Ghasipur, District Darbhanga, Bihar , Nand Lal of Pish Faridpur, Bihar, Manoj Kumar of Vasi Charigah, Chandoli, U . P ., Asha Devi of Focal Point, Ludhiana, Lakshmi Shankar, Pilkha, Rae Bareilly, Krishan Prem of Pratapgarh, U.P., Mumtaz Alam of 46 CGR Road, Bazar Khadnipur, Calcutta, Surinder Kumar of Naya Nagar, Samastipur, Bihar, Satish Kumar of Dihawarpur Bihata, Patna, Ram Lal of Pratapgarh, U.P ., Shankar Shambhu of Buxur, Bihar, Narinder Singh of Chintoli Kuin Tal, Pithoragarh, Tarlok Singh of Udham Singh Nagar, Uttranchal, Shailesh Kumar of Chaupatia Tambaku Mandi, Lucknow, Ram Bihari of Chandoli,Teja Singh of Ara, Bihar, Shogi of Jaunpur, Surjit Singh of Gaya, Bihar, Santosh Kumar of Ashok nagar, Patna, Pintoo Kumar of Khidarchar, Bihar, Bhola Singh of Bihar, Manish Kumar of Patna, Bihar, Kailash Nath of Ram Nagar, Partapgarh, Brij Lal of Uttar Pradesh, Vhail Lal of Pratpapgarh, Vijay Kumar Yadav of Kasma Masar, Madhubani, Dhanjay Kumar of Shiv Shakti Nagar, Sandalpur, Patna, Amod Kumar of Jahanabad, Bihar, Raj Narain Yadav of Gaya, Bihar, Ram Sewak of Sultanpur, U.P., Ram Swaran Saroj of Pratapgarh, Durga Shah of Ara district, Bihar, Mukesh Kumar of Salempur, Bihar, Sanjay Kumar Sriwastav of Maula Bagh, Ara, Bihar, Nanhe Lal of Rafiabad Kalan, Shahjahanpur, U.P ., Ajay Shah of Dhangawan, Bihar, Pappu Kumar of Ludhiana, Dukhid Das of Kishanpur, Bihar, Ram Raj of Rajapur, Pratapgarh, Bajrangi of Chamero village, Rae Barreilly, U . P ., Hari Chand of Chamero village, Rae Bareilly, Ajit Kumar of Patna, Mukesh Kumar of Gola Road, Imambara, Bihar, Mithilesh of Katnapur, Pratapgarh, Bhola of Buxar, Bihar, Rajesh of Patna, Ram Avtar of Aishara Lalbagh, District Chote Dewapur, U.P., Jagan Nath of Shikohabad, U.P., Chander Prakash of Rae Bareilly, Dinesh Kumar of Peerganj Katihar, Som Nath of Bihar, Sunil of Buxar, Bihar, Mohinder of Bareilly, Dharmender of Ara, Bihar, Hasin Mian of Rae Bareilly, Mustak Husain of Rae Bareily, Chanki of Aliganj, Bareilly, Surjit Kaur of Behrampur, Bihar, Vade Lal of Breily, Anil Kumar of Patna, Shiv Kumar of Pratapgarh, Kartik Kumar of Kanchan Nagar, Bihar, Gopal Bhagat of Patna, Satish Kumar of Patna, Ashok Kumar of Patna, Krishna of Moradabad, Venkatesh Kumar of Patna, Sarbindu Kumar of Muzzaffarpur, Bihar, Chintu Kumar of Patna, Arvind Gupta of Farrokhabad, Tarsem Masih of Bihar, Gopal Kumar of Bihar, Shiv Pratap Kumar of Ramgarh, U.P ., Shailendra Kumar of Bihar, Ram Surmer of Pratapgarh, U.P., Sanjay Singh of Bihar, Lal Chand of Pratapgarh, U.P . and Sham Bihari of Vasi Charigah Chandoli, U.P.

Train was carrying students from UP
From Amarjit Thind

FATEHGARH SAHIB, Dec 2 — A majority of passengers of the ill-fated Howrah Express were labourers and students from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The students were on their way to Ludhiana for appearing in a bank exam.

One such student, Ajit Kumar, who suffered a fractured leg, told TNS at the local Civil Hospital, that he was in the toilet when he heard the brakes screech and a loud bang. “I was tossed into the air. My foot was caught in the toilet pipe and was fractured. The lights went out. Cries of the people trapped rent the air. I managed to open one of the doors and was pulled out by villagers,” he recalled.

Bihar resident Mukesh Kumar Paswan was seated near the door of his coach when the train crashed. “It was a surreal feeling sitting atop corpses. It was each man for himself and very claustrophobic,” he recollected with a shudder.

He suffered severe back injuries. He said he did not know the fate of his companions. “There were more than 150 of us from Patna,” he informed.

Villagers alleged that although the accident occurred at 5.40 a.m., railway officials reached the site after more than two hours. By that time a majority of passengers had been evacuated to safety. “We had to arrange for cutters to cut open sections of the coaches to pull out the passengers”, they said.

Punjab Governor J.F.R. Jacob said: “It is a big tragedy and I have asked the authorities to do whatever is necessary for helping the injured. The Railway Minister should look into the cause of the accident and ensure that such mishaps do not occur again.”

He instructed the UT Red Cross to rush adequate number of ambulances and paramedical staff to the accident site. He announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the Fatehgarh Sahib hospital when told there were not enough funds for the purchase of bandages, medicines and food for the injured.