Authorities scramble to arrange new notes

KANPUR/PATNA: Authorities scrambled to cushion survivors and passengers’ relatives of Sunday’s Uttar Pradesh train tragedy from the cash crunch after the government pulled `500 and `1,000 notes out of circulation.

The Kanpur administration asked the Bank of Baroda to depute an official at Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital to help attendants of injured passengers from the Indore-Patna Express to get new notes or exchange their defunct cash. “Also, an ATM near the hospital is being reserved for them,” district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said, underscoring that people will require cash despite the government bearing the treatment expenses.

The SBI set up a temporary counter at the Patna railway station to help family members of passengers of the derailed train exchange their old notes. But how much the counter helped was not known as the majority of passengers’ relatives left for Kanpur before the kiosk was set up in the afternoon.

Bank officials anticipate a rush when the special train carrying the shocked passengers reaches Patna.The railways ensured distribution of new notes at the mortuary where corpses were brought for autopsy and identification. A special counter was set up and about Rs 50,000 given to relatives of the deceased.

“This was to provide immediate help to the aggrieved families, who are taking the corpses home. There were reports that old notes were given. That’s untrue,” said Amit Malaviya, the North Central Railway public relations officer.

Junior railway minister Manoj Sinha too dismissed a similar allegation that he gave abolished Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes to the injured at the accident site.