Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:-

(a)        the number of persons who lost their lives and were seriously injured due to a stampede at Mughalsarai railway station on the 3rd October, 2007;

(b)        if so, whether the matter has been inquired into, if so, the details of the findings and the action taken thereon; and

(c)        the compensation given by the Railways to the next of kin of the dead and to those seriously injured?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS

(SHRI LALU PRASAD)

(a) to (c): A statement is laid on the Table of the Sabha.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (c) OF STARRED QUESTION NO. 25 BY SHRI VARINDER SINGH BAJWA AND SHRI RAJEEV CHANDRASEKHAR TO BE ANSWERED IN RAJYA SABHA ON 16-11-2007 REGARDING STAMPEDE AT MUGHALSARAI RAILWAY STATION.

(a):In the incident of stampede at Mughalsarai railway station on the 3rd October, 2007; 15 persons lost their lives, while 12 persons sustained grievous injury and 39 persons sustained simple injury.

(b):A Committee consisting of Chief Commercial Manager (PS), Chief Medical Director/ East Central Railway and Sr. Divisional Security Commissioner/Railway Protection Force, Mughalsarai / East Central Railway, has been constituted to conduct enquiry into the incident. The enquiry by the above Committee is under progress.

(c):Compensation is paid only after a decree is awarded on the claim filed in this regard in the Railway Claims Tribunal. So far, no claim has been filed. However, the following amount of ex-gratia has been paid to the victims of the incident by the Railway Administration:-

(i) Rs.15,000/- has been paid to the kins of each of the deceased persons after postmortem.

(ii) Rs. 5,000/- has been paid to each of 12 grievously injured persons.

(iii) Rs. 500/- has been paid to each of 39 simply injured persons.

In addition. Hon’ble Minister for Railways has enhanced amount of Ex-gratia to Rs. 2 lakh per head in case of death. Payment of this enhanced ex-gratia is under process.