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Laloo appears in Parliament
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 16
Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav today said that human failure was the prima facie cause for the train accident in Mukerian near Jalandhar and the police was in search of the absconding station masters of Bhangala and Mirthal.

“The prima facie cause of the accident appeared to be human failure. Block instruments of both the stations concerned had been out of order from the previous one day”, Mr Yadav said in a statement made in the Lok Sabha today.

Both the station masters of Bhangala and Mirthal railway stations have been placed under suspension and an FIR has been lodged against them. In addition, the Section Engineer (Construction) and Section Engineer (Telecom) have also been placed under suspension.

The Railway Minister, who had come under heavy attack from the Opposition for failing to make a statement in Parliament yesterday, said that apparently, the laid down rules were not followed properly by both the station masters and trains from both sides were allowed to proceed in the block section, which resulted in the collision.

He said the Railway Board Member (Electrical) has been directed to find out the reasons for the block failure and fix responsibility of staff and officers for this so that necessary action could be taken against them.

Mr Yadav informed the House that in such an eventuality there were laid down rules for station masters to work trains on paper line clear (PLC) system. Under this system, the station master of the station from where the train is to be dispatched seeks line clear from the station master of the other station by exchanging private number between them, he said.

The Minister said the Commissioner of Railway Safety, Northern Circle, was conducting the statutory inquiry into the accident and would examine the detailed reasons for this accident and would give necessary recommendations to avoid such accidents in future.

Mr Yadav said Jammu Tawi-Ahmedabad Express and the Jalandhar-Pathankot passenger train. He had announced Rs 1,00,000 for the families of those killed, Rs 15,000 for grievously injured and Rs 5,000 for the passengers who sustained minor injuries.