Indian railway ministry suspends 4 top officials following deadly rail accident

NEW DELHI, Aug. 22– The Indian railway ministry suspended four
officials and sent on leave three of its top officials, including a
secretary-level railway board official, following a deadly rail accident in
northern state of Uttar Pradesh, officials said Monday.

The step was taken Sunday evening on the basis of prima facie evidence
regarding derailment of the passenger train in Muzaffarnagar district of
Uttar Pradesh, around 100 km from New Delhi, India’s national capital. “The
action against officials came after negligence on their part was found to
have caused the derailment,” a senior railway official said. On Saturday
evening at least 23 people were killed and over 150 others injured, some of
them critically, after 14 coaches of the train derailed falling upon one
another. “A member in the Railway Board, the Northern Railway General
Manager and the Divisional Railway Manager were sent on leave. Besides,
four engineers were suspended,” a railway ministry official said.

Authorities have registered case against unknown persons in the derailment
and initiated investigations. The Indian government has announced a
compensation of 7,792 U.S. dollars for each family that has lost a member
in the accident, while the injured will be given an assistance of 1,558
dollars each. In January this year 39 people were killed and over 50
injured in train derailment in southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian government in 2015 announced an investment of over 137 billion
dollars over a period of next five years to boost railways and modernise it
on new lines. Indian sprawling railways are the world’s third largest
network, ferrying around 23 million people each day. Last year a train
accident in Uttar Pradesh killed 145 and injured around 200. – XINHUA