Kanchanjunga Train Accident: FIR on dead train driver for mishap; Toll reaches 11
Kolkata: A day after the railway accident in Darjeeling of West Bengal, an FIR was lodged against the deceased driver of the goods train that had overshot the signal and rammed into the Kanchenjunga Express near Siliguri.
The case on several charges including 304(II) (act is done with knowledge that it is likely to cause death, but without any intention to cause death) of the Indian Penal Code was initiated at New Jalpaiguri government railway police station.
It came following a complaint by an injured passenger of the ill-fated Sealdah-bound train on Monday. While the deceased driver was identified as Anil Kumar, his assistant has been admitted to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for treatment of his injuries.
Eastern Railway spokesperson Kaushik Mitra informed that a paper memo (T/A912) was issued to the drivers of both the trains to run at a speed of 10 km per hour since automatic signals were not functioning between Ranipatra and Chatterhat stations.
He also pointed out that the goods train driver was advised to maintain a distance of around 150 metres from the previous train. But the goods train was moving at a speed of 75-78 km per hour. North Bengal development minister Udayan Guha however blamed the railways of passing the buck to the goods train driver, as he is no more, to cover up it's faults.
Meanwhile, the death toll increased to 11 on Tuesday as a passenger succumbed to her injuries at hospital. The victim, Sneha Mondal, was a six-year-old girl from Malda in North Bengal. She was returning home with her parents on the Kanchenjunga Express from Agartala.
Her injured parents are undergoing treatment. In Kolkata, family members of another deceased railway staff, Shankar Mohan Das, vented their anger against the ministry officials for lack of coordination in bringing his body home.
Das, who was on extension in railway mailing department after his retirement from service, was a resident of Shib Krishna Daw Lane Maniktala. He was in one of the two parcel vans of the passenger train which were derailed after the collision on Monday.
State minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, who visited the Das family, alleged, “The body was stuck in traffic. None from the railway ministry accompanied it for transportation. We arranged everything.” The railway operations to North Bengal and Assam from Kolkata however remained affected as 22 trains were diverted and delayed during the day.
