Punjab may provide more help to poor victims of Amritsar train accident

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Sunday directed the Amritsar administration to make detailed socioeconomic profiles of victims of the train accident which claimed 59 lives.

At least 59 people were killed and 72 injured Friday evening after a crowd of Dussehra revellers that had spilt onto railway tracks while watching the burning of Ravana effigy was run over by a train near Joda Phatak in Amritsar.

The chief minister, who met some of the survivors in the hospital Saturday, was particularly moved by tales of two young women who lost their entire family including children and husbands, and in one case even her in-laws, an official release said.

Anguished at the plight of such survivors, Singh told Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar that the government needed to do more than just giving Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia, especially in cases where victims were poor.

The senior Congress leader announced that a proper system would be worked out to ensure that such survivors were rehabilitated by the state at the earliest.

On Sunday, while reviewing the situation in the aftermath of the train tragedy, the Punjab chief minister directed the district officials to prepare detailed socioeconomic profiles of the victims.

He also directed that ration, clothing, medicines etc be provided to the families of the victims as most were from the economically weaker sections of the society.

Singh reviewed the relief and rehabilitation work with the Crisis Management Group of ministers headed by state Health Minister Brahm Mohindra and directed them to take immediate steps for early disbursement of the compensation.

All steps should be taken for the effective rehabilitation of the survivors and families of the victims, he added.

The Crisis Management Group was set up by the state government on Friday, immediately after the disaster struck.