Mamata cancels Darjeeling trip, to visit Odisha today

Kolkata/ Darjeeling: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday cancelled her four-day trip to Darjeeling at the last minute to supervise the treatment and rehabilitation of passengers of the state who were injured in the triple train accident in Balasore. She is scheduled to reach Odisha on Tuesday.

Banerjee on Monday announced that her government will provide government jobs for the family of those who lost their lives in the horrific train accident in Odisha’s Balasore.

“The injured victims who lost their limbs in the ghastly train accident will also be given government jobs,” Banerjee said.

State government will also give cash aid to those who were on board the Coromandel Express and are currently going through mental and physical trauma.

“Our government has decided that we will give a special home guard job to one of the family members of those who lost their limbs in the Balasore rail accident,” said Banerjee while talking to the media.

She also attacked the Centre after the Railways sought a CBI probe into the matter. Reacting to the Railway Board seeking CBI inquiry into the train accident, she said: “We want people to know the truth. It is not the time to suppress the truth, a CBI probe will not help.”

The Chief Minister is going to visit Cuttack and Bhubaneswar on Tuesday to see the injured passengers who are undergoing treatment in various hospitals.

On Wednesday, she will hand over compensation cheques and job letters to the families of the victims of the Odisha train accident.

She added: “I will be travelling to Cuttack tomorrow as there are around 53 patients from Bengal who are still being treated there. Of them, 30 are in critical condition. In total, there are around 206 patients, native to Bengal, who are still being treated in hospitals across Odisha and Bengal.

“State government has decided to give compensation of Rs 5,00,000 to each family, who have lost their kin in the accident. Apart from that, we have also decided to recruit one family member of those who died as Home Guards. For those who have suffered a grievous injury in the accident, our government will give them Rs 1,00,000 as compensation, while those who suffered a minor injury will be given Rs 25,000 as compensation,” Banerjee said.

She added: “For passengers who might not be injured but are facing trauma from the incident, the Bengal government will give them Rs 10,000 and subsequently Rs 2,000 for the next four months. Apart from that, we will also provide them with rice, dal, oil and other necessities.”

She said a few Bengal ministers and senior officers will accompany her. Banerjee also added that she did not want to get into any sort of politics on the accident and would do everything to help the injured passengers and their families.

Earlier, Banerjee cancelled her trip to Darjeeling where she was scheduled to unveil statues of Netaji, Gandhiji and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan along with the distribution of welfare schemes from Chowrasta opposite the Raj Bhawan on June 6. Along with this, she was also scheduled to hold an industrial meeting on June 7 at the Gorkha Rangmanch Bhawan.