Railways, police say did not grant permission

Amritsar, Oct. 20: The railways was not informed about the Dussehra event along the tracks and the civic body did not give its permission either, officials from the two organisations said Saturday, a day after 59 revellers were mowed down by a train while Ravana’s effigy went up in flames in a cacophonous burst of firecrackers.

Grief, shock and outrage swirled in the air as families, officials and others tried to piece together the sequence of events of festivities gone horribly wrong when a train from Jalandhar came hurtling down the tracks where scores of people were standing to get a better view of the spectacle. Most of those killed are migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. An FIR was lodged against unknown persons, officials said as locals asserted that effigy burning had been going on at the spot for at least 20 years.

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation maintained that no permission was given. “Nobody was given the permission for organising the Dussehra event. Moreover, nobody had applied for the permission with the Amritsar Municipal Corporation,” Commissioner Sonali Giri said.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani, who visited the spot at midnight, said the railways was not informed about the event and the accident occurred at a stretch between the Amritsar and Manawala stations and not at a level crossing. “At midsections, trains run at their assigned speed and people are not expected to be on the tracks. At midsections, there is no railway staff posted,” he said.

In his view, there could have been a bigger tragedy if the driver had applied emergency brakes. —PTI