Stampede in New Delhi Station Update: A stampede broke out on Saturday night due to a huge crowd of passengers gathering at New Delhi Railway Station to go to Prayagraj Mahakumbh. Railways had earlier denied the stampede. However, now after about 20 hours, the Railways has confirmed the death of passengers and has given information about compensation to the injured. Know the latest update.
New Delhi: On the night of 15 February at around 9:55 pm, there was a stampede among the passengers to catch the train going to Mahakumbh at New Delhi Railway Station. 18 passengers died in the accident, many were injured. To investigate the details of the accident, the Railway Ministry has constituted a committee of two senior railway officials. Which will investigate the details of this entire accident and tell where and at what level there was a mistake, mistake or negligence in it. But at the beginning of the accident, the Railway Ministry kept denying the stampede and the deaths in it.
First called it a rumour, now accepted the stampede
The viral video on social media was also called a rumour. But when the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi, Defense Minister and then the Prime Minister tweeted on Twitter and mentioned the stampede, for the first time on behalf of the Railways, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav mentioned the stampede in a post about the accident on Twitter at 1:09 pm on February 15-16. What did the Railways say in this whole matter and what will be the further investigation. Let us know about this in detail.
Railways officially confirmed the deaths 19:51 hours after the accident
19:51 hours after the accident on platform number 14 of New Delhi Railway Station and its stairs at 9:55 pm on February 15, the next day at 5:46 pm, the Railway Board officially shared the information about 18 deaths and injured in the accident. It was told that Rs 180 lakh was given as ex gratia to the families of 18 deceased and the injured were also paid.
Earlier, after the accident, in the viral video on social media and the information being sought from the Railway Board, the officials constantly denied the stampede in it. Calling it a rumour, the officials said that the situation is under control. A top official of the Railway Board also said at 11:13 pm that the situation was under control and the injured were being taken to the hospital. But there was no mention of stampede and deaths. Nor was any helpline number issued.
The Railway Minister was monitoring for Mahakumbh from the war room built in Rail Bhavan
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav is constantly monitoring the special and routine trains being run by the Railway Ministry for Mahakumbh from the war room built in Rail Bhavan. In such a situation, the question of the sources is that why did no one notice such a tremendous increasing crowd of passengers at New Delhi Railway Station after 7-8 pm on February 15. It is said that 1500 general tickets were sold every hour.
Why was there no such huge crowd at the station?
The train going to Prayagraj was delayed on platform number 14. Meanwhile, a special train was announced from platform number 12. Passengers from platform number 14 started running towards platform number 12. A huge crowd gathered on the stairs and FOB on the way. There was confusion among the passengers between platform number 13 and 16 as well. But neither the war room nor any officer posted at the station tried to control the crowd.
Compensation of Rs 180 lakh to the families of the 18 passengers killed
The railways said that the families of each passenger killed in the accident have been given a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each. Each of the seriously injured has been given Rs 2.5 lakh each. While out of the 12 people who were slightly injured, 10 have been given a compensation of Rs 1 lakh each. The remaining two are also being given this amount. Out of 15 injured, 11 have been discharged from the hospital.
Investigation of the accident begins, CCTV footage to be kept safe
A high level investigation committee of two top officials of Northern Railway, Narsingh Dev and Pankaj Gangwar, has been formed to investigate the accident. It will submit its report after investigating the entire accident in detail. The committee has asked the railway to keep all the footage related to this accident safe so that it can investigate it. Orders have been given to complete and submit the investigation report as soon as possible. For this, the committee has also started its work. In this case, all the top officials of the Railway Ministry and Railway Board are also busy investigating all the aspects related to the accident at their own level.
