Amid blame game over Amritsar train tragedy, locals continue to protest, demand compensation for victims

Locals are sitting on railway tracks and are refusing to leave at any cost.

AMRITSAR: The situation remained tense on Sunday as locals continued with their sit-in at Joda Patak where 59 Dussehra revellers were mowed down by a train.

The locals had started protesting on Saturday, raising slogans against the Amarinder Singh-led Congress government and demanding action against the train's driver, a day after the unfortunate incident here.

Police said several local residents are sitting on the railway tracks and do not want to leave.

"We hope that the normalcy will be restored in the area by Sunday evening as the number of protestors has come down since Saturday," a senior police officer said. 

The Punjab Police has deployed its personnel, including commandos, to manage the crowd.

The Rapid Action Force is also present in the Joda Patak area.

The district administration has said out of 59 people who were mowed down by the speeding Jalandhar-Amritsar train Friday, 40 have been identified.

The process of identifying the other persons is underway, it said.

The Punjab government had on Saturday ordered a magisterial probe into the accident, while railways has ruled out any inquiry on its part. 

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said that a magisterial inquiry into the train accident will be conducted and the report will be submitted in four weeks.

"We are announcing a magisterial probe into the incident," Singh told reporters.

The Railways, while ruling out an inquiry into the mishap, has said it was not informed by the organisers or the local administration that a Dussehra event was being organised close to railway tracks. 

Railway officials said no permission was sought from them either and ruled out an inquiry by the department into what they said was the worst accident due to 'trespass' on railway tracks.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will not probe the Amritsar tragedy, Railway Board chairman Ashwani Lohani said while maintaining that it was not a railway accident but a case of ''trespassing'' on rail tracks.

The Commission of Railway Safety works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and conducts a mandatory inquiry into all railway accidents - at unmanned level crossings, derailments or after a bridge collapse.

The railways has maintained that it was not at fault because it had no information about the Dussehra event. Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha ruled out any punitive action by his department.

Meanwhile, opposition parties in Punjab, including BJP, AAP and SAD have called for stringent against those responsible for the event and dismissal of Sidhu from the state government. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that an independent agency should conduct an inquiry into Amritsar train tragedy that claimed lives of 59 people.

He further attacked Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh-led Punjab government for taking the incident “lightly”. 

The SAD leader also asked the Chief Minister to take action against those responsible for the accident.

Badal also demanded compensation of Rs 1 crore per person and government jobs for the families of those killed in the tragic train accident.

Badal demanded immediate dismissal of Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from the cabinet beside registration of a fresh FIR against his family based on statements of the victims.

He alleged that Sidhu's wife Navjot Kaur was solely answerable for the accident as she was the chief guest at the Dussehra function and responsible for holding such a big event sans security and safety measures.

The former deputy chief minister also demanded action against organisers of the function, saying they were responsible for making the people stand on the railway track.

The unfortunate accident took place in Choura Bazar near Jhoda Phatak area of Amritsar after a train ran over the crowd, standing along train tracks, to watch an effigy of Ravan being burnt. 

(With PTI Inputs)