New Delhi, March 13
A detailed report on the Godhra carnage, including names of 62 passengers of whom 59 died in the fire in Sabarmati Express on February 27 last year, was tabled by Railway Minister Nitish Kumar in the Lok Sabha today.
The task of identifying the passengers was a “massive exercise”, the report said.
As many as 150 Railway officials worked round the clock for days together, travelling to even far-flung and remote places to contact either the passengers or their family members or neighbours, the report said.
“Despite our best efforts, it has not been possible to contact or trace some of the persons or their relatives or neighbours on account of various reasons such as incorrect address or illegible address. In some cases, neighbours were unable to give any information” it said.
On the day of the
incident, the report said “even the reserved coaches were jampacked to such an extent that the ticket checking staff could not enter some of the coaches for checking the passengers. A remark to this effect has been made on the chart coach N6 by ticket checking staff.
“In view of the situation, despite best efforts put in by the Railways it has not been possible to identify fully who was travelling in which coach or berth and how many were travelling in the reserved coaches.”
Referring to reports in “some quarters” that the Railways did not reveal the full details of the passengers travelling in Coach S-6, which was gutted by fire, the report said the Railway administration had all along been transparent in giving information.
“Keeping in view the statements made in some quarters, the Indian Railways have made special efforts to collect information about the passengers who had secured reservation for travel by that train by making personal contact with them and their relatives on the addresses given in the requisition slips submitted by them at the reservation counter while asking for reservation accommodation.
“The information in respect of the addresses quoted in the reservation forms was extracted and the railway officials visited the given addresses to gather information about the passengers who had secured reserved accommodation,” it said.
