NEW DELHI, Aug 12:
In the last 10 years, 124 commuters had died and 564 injured in the Mumbai suburban section due to gap between platform and compartment of trains.
This was brought to light by a Parliamentary Committee report which had shown dissatisfaction on the way the Railways had disbursed compensation to the dead and injured commuters.
The panel while looking into the aspect of compensation claims filed and settled during 2005-2015, noted that, “Out of 11032 compensation cases filed in different Benches of the Railway Claims Tribunal (RCT) claims had been given only in 7240 cases”.
It noted that on all-India basis, during the last five years, Rs 13.65 cr has been given by the Railways to passengers who died or were injured due to accidentally falling from trains.
The panel said it was “Shocked to find that 3792 compensation claims which comes to around 35 percent are still pending”.
The committee observed that the main reason for non-settlement of compensation was non-availability of requisite infrastructure within the Railway premises to arrive at a quick decision as to whether the passenger has died or injured due to accidental falling from train or otherwise.
This deficiency has resulted in prolonged litigation for settlement of compensation claims between the injured passengers and dependents of deceased and Railway authorities.
The Panel has recommended that the Railways should strive to enhance the infrastructure within their premises so that any untoward incident resulting in death or injury of a passenger within the Railway premises could be quickly identified as a case of accidental falling or an intentional act so that compensation claims were settled by the RCT within a fixed time frame.
It also recommended that CCTV cameras at all strategic locations on all the railway stations across the country should be finalized within six months of the presentation of the report. (UNI)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel