Amarinder orders magisterial probe
59 people were killed in the accident
AMRITSAR: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Saturday ordered a magisterial probe into the Amritsar train accident after visiting injured and kin of those killed in the tragedy even as he urged the Opposition not to politicise the issue.
The chief minister postponed a trip to Israel and arrived here Saturday morning to assess the damage.
“We are announcing a magisterial probe into the incident,” Singh said while talking to media here.
He said four weeks had been given to submit the report to find out who was at fault. The divisional commissioner of Jalandhar has been entrusted with the job of holding the inquiry, he said.
At least 59 people were killed Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilt on to railway tracks while watching the burning of a Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak here.
At least 300 people were watching the ‘Ravana dahan’ at a ground adjacent to the tracks.
Singh visited the injured in Amandeep Hospital, Civil Hospital and Guru Nanak Dev Hospital Saturday, where he met the injured and directed the doctors to provide the best possible medical treatment.
He expressed grief at the incident and extended his government’s full support to the victims and their families.
He said this was not the time to play political games on the issue and urged the opposition parties to join hands with the government in providing relief work to the victims.
He said the state government had already announced compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the families of the deceased. Besides, the government would bear the cost of medical treatments of the injured admitted to different hospitals; he told reporters.
Fifty-nine people were killed and 57 injured in the accident, he said, adding except nine, most of the bodies have been identified.
Most people who were mowed down by a speeding train in Amritsar during Dussehra celebrations Friday evening were migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, an official said here Saturday.