In Bihar, at least 37 people were killed and over 20 injured as the Rajya Rani Express ran over them at Dhamara Ghat railway station on the Saharsa-Mansi route of the East Central Railway. Most of the dead are women devotees who were going to attend Shiv Puja. Additional Director General of Bihar Police (Law and Order) S K Bhardwaj told AIR that the death toll may be increase. AIR Correspondent quoting railway sources reports that relief and rescue operation are being disrupted due to protest.
According to him, after 6 hours of the tragic incident , railway officials have reached the incident spot to carry out rescue operation and normalize the situation.
Medical teams are also giving additional help to the injured persons. The incident occurred at 8:40 this morning, when devotees in large number were trying to cross the railway track at Dhamara Ghat railway station.
The train was running from Saharsa to Patna and it did not have stoppage at Dhamara railway station and was running at full speed. Soon after the incident angry pilgrims and locals set ablaze 14 bogies of the train and attacked railway officials.
BJP termed the train accident in Saharsa as unfortunate and demanded a thorough probe to fix the responsiblity. Deputy Leader of the party in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters in New Delhi that adequate compensation should be given to the kin of those killed and proper treatment should provided to the injured.
Meanwhile, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge informed the Rajya Sabha that an ex-gratia amount of 5 lakh rupees has been sanctioned for those killed and one lakh rupees for the grievously injured in the incident. Mr Kharge said that he has requested the Civil Aviation Minister to institute the statutory enquiry by the Commissioner of Railway Safety into the incident. The Minister also said our the State Minister for Railways will visit the accident spot:
The Railway has issued helpline numbers Patna
0612-2206965, Samastipur 06274-221741, Mansi 06244-233234, Khagaria 06244-222049 and Saharsa 06478-227355
