Centre, UP trade charges over stampede
13 Feb 2013 5:17 AM IST
The death toll from a stampede at a railway junction where millions of people jostled with each other to enter already crowded trains in Allahabad rose to 36 as Uttar Pradesh government and railway blame each other for the incident.
Chief secretary Javed Usmani said 36 people have died in stampede that broke out at platform number 6 of the Allahabad railway station. ‘Of the dead 29 are women and one girl. At least 39 others are injured in the incident in which six are in critical condition,’ Usmani told reporters here on Monday.
The stampede broke out last evening when eyewitness claim police prevented thousands of people from using a foot rail overbridge at platform number 6 where thousands of people were waiting to catch their train.
‘We heard an announcement that our train is coming on platform number 4 and when we started moving towards that platform through overbridge we were stopped and then suddenly there was a baton charge and stampede started,’ S K Sengupta, a passenger from Kolkata said.
‘People started tumbling over one another and within no time I saw people, particularly women and children being trampled over by others,’ he said. The police, however, denied any baton charge. ‘It was simply a case of overcrowding. People were in a hurry to go back and there was not enough arrangements from Railway,’ Arun Kumar, a senior police officer said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a probe into the incident. Chairman Revenue Board has been asked to hold inquiry and submit his report within a month’s time.
‘The probe will try to find out reasons behind this accident and also point a finger behind the people responsible for this,’ Usmani said.
The railways have diverted around 50 trains to Allahabad after the incident to clear the rush of the pilgrims on the directives of the Railway minister Pawan Bansal.
However, the railways and the Uttar Pradesh government blamed each other for the incident. While the railways claim that sudden arrival of around 2 lakh people in the state created the chaos, the UP government alleged that the railways were not prepared for such occasion even after several intimations from the Government. Uttar Pradesh government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the family of the deceased while the injured would be given Rs 1 lakh each.
Samajadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry said that Railway was responsible for the stampede as this happened within its jurisdiction and railway officials failed to provide enough facilities at Allahabad junction.
An eye witness claimed that police lathicharged the people sitting on the over-bridge waiting for their trains led to stampede. Sudden change of platform of the trains could be another reason for the stampede.
Railway authorities also refused that the railing of the over-bridge had collapsed and blamed the police lathi charge was the reason behind the incident. Delay in providing medical aid to the injured was the main reason for increase in the death toll.
Several people wept as they saw the bodies of their relatives. Abandoned luggage, food and shoes were strewn all over the area where the accident took place.
Chief secretary Javed Usmani said 36 people have died in stampede that broke out at platform number 6 of the Allahabad railway station. ‘Of the dead 29 are women and one girl. At least 39 others are injured in the incident in which six are in critical condition,’ Usmani told reporters here on Monday.
The stampede broke out last evening when eyewitness claim police prevented thousands of people from using a foot rail overbridge at platform number 6 where thousands of people were waiting to catch their train.
‘We heard an announcement that our train is coming on platform number 4 and when we started moving towards that platform through overbridge we were stopped and then suddenly there was a baton charge and stampede started,’ S K Sengupta, a passenger from Kolkata said.
‘People started tumbling over one another and within no time I saw people, particularly women and children being trampled over by others,’ he said. The police, however, denied any baton charge. ‘It was simply a case of overcrowding. People were in a hurry to go back and there was not enough arrangements from Railway,’ Arun Kumar, a senior police officer said.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a probe into the incident. Chairman Revenue Board has been asked to hold inquiry and submit his report within a month’s time.
‘The probe will try to find out reasons behind this accident and also point a finger behind the people responsible for this,’ Usmani said.
The railways have diverted around 50 trains to Allahabad after the incident to clear the rush of the pilgrims on the directives of the Railway minister Pawan Bansal.
However, the railways and the Uttar Pradesh government blamed each other for the incident. While the railways claim that sudden arrival of around 2 lakh people in the state created the chaos, the UP government alleged that the railways were not prepared for such occasion even after several intimations from the Government. Uttar Pradesh government has announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh for the family of the deceased while the injured would be given Rs 1 lakh each.
Samajadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhry said that Railway was responsible for the stampede as this happened within its jurisdiction and railway officials failed to provide enough facilities at Allahabad junction.
An eye witness claimed that police lathicharged the people sitting on the over-bridge waiting for their trains led to stampede. Sudden change of platform of the trains could be another reason for the stampede.
Railway authorities also refused that the railing of the over-bridge had collapsed and blamed the police lathi charge was the reason behind the incident. Delay in providing medical aid to the injured was the main reason for increase in the death toll.
Several people wept as they saw the bodies of their relatives. Abandoned luggage, food and shoes were strewn all over the area where the accident took place.
Next Story
