New Delhi: On Monday, Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha gave a clean chit to the national transporter regarding the Amritsar train accident that took place on October 19. The minister said that there is no fault of the railway department in concern of the accident that took place during Dussehra celebrations.
Sinha earlier ruled out any punitive action by his department. “The incident was not railways’ fault. There was no lapse on our part and no action against the driver will be initiated,” Sinha said on Saturday.
Besides this, Sinha also added that politics should be kept away from such incidents.
An intercity train that was heading to Amritsar crushed down a crowd of Dussehra revelers who were watching Dushhera celebrations at Joda Phatak area near Amritsar. In order to have a closer and wider look, some people even gathered on the railway tracks, said Saurabh Madan Mithu who organized the Ramleela event. He also informed that the sound of the crackers made the revelers unaware of the approaching train.
On Saturday, the Commissioner of Railway Safety revealed that the accident was not a railway accident, rather it was a case of trespassing on rail tracks. “The gathering of people close to tracks was a clear case of trespassing”, a senior official had said on Friday.
As per the sources, there were stone pelting in Amritsar for the demand of action against the guilty. And the opposition also tried to impose the blame over former MLA Navjot Kaur, who was the chief guest at the event.
On the other hand, Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu accused the railway gateman of giving green signal to train. Navjot Singh Sidhu blamed him as he gave the green signal despite the presence of a large number of people at railway tracks.
