Amritsar tragedy: Amarinder visits injured, orders immediate release of Rs. 3 Cr

Amritsar, Oct 20: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday (October 20) visited Civil Hospital in Amritsar and met those injured in the train accident which left 59 people dead. Singh ordered the District Commissioner of Amritsar to immeditely release Rs 3 crore for payment of ex-gratia to the families of the deceased.

Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday announced compensation for the kin of those deceased in the tragedy. He said Punjab government will give Rs 5 lakh to kin of each deceased and free treatment to injured in government and private hospitals.

Hundereds of people had gathered at Joda Phatak in Amritsar for Dussehra celebrations on Friday (October 19) evening when a train coming from Jalandhar ran over a crowd standing on the tracks.

"When a tragedy occurs the entire administration gets involved. We have come here as soon as we could come. Today, the entire cabinet of Punjab is here...59 people killed and 57 people were injured in the incident. We will try that postmortem of the bodies are done as soon as possible. We have identified most of the bodies except 9," Singh told media on Saturday after meeting the injured.

"We are ordering a magisterial inquiry into the incident under the police commissioner who will submit a report in 4 weeks," he added.

The Indian Railways said that the Amritsar mishap happened because of trespassing, adding that the trains move on those track regularly. Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani said the driver of the train blew the horn and tried to apply the brakes.

"58 people died and 48 were injured in Amritsar Train Accident yesterday. It does not appear that the loco driver was at fault in the incident. Amritsar-Howrah Mail had passed the same spot two minutes before the accident occurred," Deepak Kumar, CPRO, Northern Railway, told ANI.

"Currently, train services are suspended between Amrtisar-Manawala railway section. We will hold a review at noon and a decision will be taken in this regard," he added.

The Chief Minister, who was scheduled to leave for Israel, postponed his trip and flew to Amritsar in this morning to personally take stock of the situation.