Ludhiana, May 15
Refusing to assign any specific reasons for today’s fire tragedy in the Frontier Mail (Golden Temple Express), the Railway Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar, said the investigations were on and nothing could be said at this stage.
Talking to reporters after visiting the injured in Dayanand Medical College Hospital and the Christian Medical College Hospital, Mr Nitish Kumar maintained that the inquiry would be conducted by the Commissioner, Railway Safety and it should take between two and four weeks.
Mr Nitish Kumar also announced that the ex gratia relief for the deceased had been increased from Rs 15,000 to Rs 1 lakh, while for the seriously injured it had been raised from Rs 5,000 to Rs 15,000. For minor injuries, the relief had been enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 5000. The amount to the kin of the deceased would be in addition to the compensation of Rs 4 lakh given by the Railways.
The Minister said the reason would be established only after due investigations and inquiries by different agencies. He refused to subscribe to the earlier theory of the Railways claiming that the apparent reason of the fire appeared to be the bursting of a stove.
There was some confusion as various reasons were being projected for the cause of the fire. The Additional Director General of Police (Railways), Mr S.C. Jain, said the preliminary inquiry conducted by a team of forensic experts led by Dr Promilla Goyal had ruled out sabotage and electric shot circuit. He claimed that the inquiry had indicated the possibility of the bursting of a stove.
One of the survivors, Mr Dharmender Kumar from Delhi who came to meet the minister, said he saw people rushing from S4, from where the fire originated, saying that they had seen some sparks with a bursting sound on the roof of the coach. His statement was corroborated by Mr Saif Petrolwala from Madhya Pradesh, who disclosed that there was a shot circuit in the same coach at Saharanpur also. It was repaired there and the train was allowed to move. He said three coaches were reduced to ashes in no time.
He was accompanied by the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and senior officers of the Railways.
Earlier there was a scuffle between the media and the police personnel deployed at the railway station, when a DSP allegedly slapped a Delhi-based journalist of an electronic channel.
