Two killed in stampede in West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee blames Railways

KOLKATA: Two persons were killed following a stampede on a foot over bridge at Santragachi Railway junction in Howrah. Senior officials of south eastern railways said that the stampede was caused by a sudden rush on the foot over bridge after three trains —an express and two local passenger — arrived at the station.
Santragachi, which is considered to be the third most important junction station in the city after Howrah and Sealdah rail terminals, has six tracks . It caters to the rail traffic from the south eastern division .

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was attending the Durga Puja immersion carnival in the city, rushed to the spot. Reaching the spot, Banerjee confirmed death of two persons and raised questions on the “negligence and callousness” of railway authorities. She claimed that announcements of shifting a platform of a train resulted in the stampede. Referring to the Amritsar train incident she asked, “Why should there be back to back incidents?” The chief minister also raised question on three trains arriving at the same time. Adding that there was “ lack of coordination” , she said , “ It is a congested area. Why another foot over bridge was not built seeing the crowd situation ? There is a communication gap internally. The issues are not addressed.”

A senior railway official said that 11 of 14 injured persons were admitted to railway general hospital. Banerjee visited the hospital and said that her government would initiate an “administrative probe “ in this incident. Banerjee said that there was “negligence” on the part of the railways .

“Another unfortunate incident on railways today. Sadly, too many such tragedies are happening like this even during festive season, including Amritsar. Railways are the lifeline of our nation. Safety of rail passengers must be taken care of at all times,” she later tweeted.