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train tragedy

‘Dealt with the train tragedy
braHM MoHindra
Punjab’s health minister
in sensitive manner’

Punjab HealtH Minister brahm What do you have to say about the allegations by
Mohindra had rushed to Amritsar the opposition that the Chief Minister arrived late in
within hours of receiving the Amritsar?
information about the mishap. For I would say this was all politically motivated propaganda
days, he camped there along with and unfortunately nothing more cheap politics being played
other ministerial colleagues and over the dead. The CM was in Delhi to fly to Israel on official
monitored the relief operations. visit when the mishap occurred. He immediately deferred
Being the senior most minister and the visit and reached Amritsar the next morning. On his
the head of the crisis management panel, he took charge of instructions I had already arrived here a few hours after the
the situation before arrival of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder mishap. He visited the spot and made important announce-
Singh who deferred his official trip to Israel. Excerpts from ments about the relief measures including setting up of
Brahm Mohindra’s talk with raju william on the issue crisis management panel. He had been in constant touch
with us; conveyed instructions through video conferenc-
edited excerpts from an interview • ing from Tel Aviv. Before that he asked me thrice whether
he should go ahead with the scheduled Israel tour. I assured
him that we would take care.
What’s the exact number of casualties and the injured
in this most tragic mishap? The rival parties are demanding registration of cases
After 10 days of the relief operations, total 58 were report- accusing the area MLA and minister Navjot Singh Sidhu
ed dead out of which one body is still unidentified and 70 and his wife for negligence in this case? Your comment?
injured who are hospitalised. Again I would say it is all politically motivated. Why can’t
the opposition wait for the report of the magisterial probe
Have all been handed compensation announced by ordered by the CM to look into all possible causes lead-
the Chief Minister since the government claimed it ing to this tragedy. The report will come out in four weeks
conducted rescue and relief operations on warfooting ? and could be made public if produced before the
Let me tell you, the kin of 38 dead were handed compensa- stipulated period.
tion cheques of 5 lakh by October 22, that within 3 days af-
ter the mishap occurred. After rescue and relief. Have your government thought
Doesn’t this show the dedication with which entire about rehabilitation of those permanently disabled?
relief exercise was undertaken? As of now, of the total, kin As part of the comprehensive plan, the government will
of the 46 dead and 42 among the injured have been given provide suitable skills and employment to whoever requires
cheques of 50,000 besides free treatment. The kin of whether daily wagers victims or others. As ordered by the
the rest of the dead will get cheques as soon as their CM, a socio-economic survey of those affected is being done
claimants come forward. Another significant reason for for the purpose.
quick relief disbursal was that on the CM’s directions, The
state Finance Department immediately released 3 Crore for How do you recognise the contribution of the NGOs and
the purpose. the community in general in the relief efforts?
I must say it was a great community assisted government
There were allegations that cheques were issued for operation. Thanks to the members of the NGOs and the area
lesser amount than promised? people that they helped remove dead bodies due to which
This is wrong. In fact, our government dealt with this rail tracks were cleared by 3 am and the same night about
issue in a sensitive manner. Out of the promised compen- 700 units of blood were donated which packed the blood
sation amount, the cheques of equal share were distributed banks to their full capacity.
among all the dependents of the dead to rule out chances of
dispute among them. letters@tehelka.com

tehelka / 15 november 2018 15 www.tehelka.com

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