Four officials suspended after Kushinagar tragedy

Kushinagar (UP): The Uttar Pradesh government has placed four officials under suspension on charges of laxity following the death of 13 children in a train-school van collision here, an official said today.

Those suspended with immediate effect were Basic Education Officer, Kushinagar, Hemant Rao, Block Education Oficer (of Duddahi) Shesh Bahadur Singh, Assistant Road Transport Officer (Enforcement) Rajkishor Trivedi (posted in Kushinagar) and Passenger Tax Officer of the transport department Ranveer Singh Chauhan, District Magistrate Anil Kumar Singh told PTI.

He said K J Khan, the manager-cum-principal of the Divine Mission School, who was detained yesterday by the police after the students were killed, was arrested today for allegedly running the institution without proper permission or registration.

The authorities cracked the whip after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath gave directions for initiating stringent action against the guilty.

Singh said an intensive checking drive of school vans has been initiated in the district in the wake of yesterday's tragedy in which 13 children on their way to school were killed when a train rammed into their van at an unmanned railway crossing.

Four other children, who were injured, and the driver of the ill-fated school van were undergoing treatment in the state-run BRD medical college hospital in adjoining Gorakhpur.

Adityanath has said if required, the injured will be sent to a speciality hospital for treatment.

He has announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of each child killed in the accident.