Stampede at New Delhi Station After Passengers Slipped: Railways

Spread love

Railways Blames “Sudden Rush”, Passengers for Stampede at New Delhi Station

By Raisina Correspondent

New Delhi, February 16: The Railways on Sunday claimed that the incident of passengers slipping caused stampede. Reports said that 21 people lost their lives while Railways is yet to give an official figure.

The Railway officials denied the incident of stampede for several hours last night. They peddled claims of rumour even while the Delhi Police put out media note of passengers meeting with an incident at the New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS).

“The incident of passengers slipping while descending from the foot over bridge on approach to platform number 14 caused the stampede. A high-level enquiry has been constituted to probe causes of the stampede,” said Himanshu Shekhar, CPRO of the Northern Railways.

Reports said that 21 passengers lost their lives in the stampede. The police released a list of 18 deceased. The Railways has not yet given any official data of the casualty even after over 10 hours of the incident.

Shekhar said that Patna-bound Magadh Express was onboarding passengers on platform number 14 at the time of stampede. He said that Jammu-bound Uttar Sampark Kranti Express was on platform number 15 while mishap took place.

Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw claimed that there had been “sudden rush of passengers” at the NDLS. The Railways announced that additional special trains had been pressed into operations to clear the rush for Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj.

The Railways this week had claimed that Vaishav had been monitoring the “war room” in the Railway Board to oversee the rail operations amid the rush for Maha Kumbh. On January 29, stampede at Maha Kumbh killed “30 and injured 60” in Prayagraj.

Incidentally, trains in recent days have been attacked by miffed passengers for not able to board them amid heavy rush for Maha Kumbh. The Railways had said this week that it would be filing FIRs against passengers for attacking trains.

The Saturday night stampede took place at New Delhi Station, which is at stone’s throw distance from the headquarters of the Ministry of Railways. This is also at stone’s throw distance from parliament.

The viral videos of the stampede at NDLS showed bodies lying on platform. The passengers helped injured. The videos of the stampede are without any footage of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel helping out passengers.

Incidentally, New Delhi Railway Station is a base station for India’s most premier trains such as Vande Bharat, Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and Duranto. In 2004, an incident of stampede had taken place at New Delhi station after sudden change of platform of a Bihar-bound train.

Join the WhatsApp Channel of The Raisina Hills

Follow on Google News https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMNK2vwsw39HWAw?hl=en-IN&gl=IN&ceid=IN%3Aen