In June of last year, a tragic train incident occurred in Balasore, Odisha. 297 individuals lost their lives and over 800 individuals were wounded in the train crash. Nevertheless, the families of the victims remain unhappy about the lack of compensation. The Railway Claims Tribunal has been approached by numerous victims. 841 requests have been submitted to the Railway Claims Tribunal seeking additional compensation. Families of the victims submit requests for increased compensation to the Railway Claims Tribunal. Lawyers serve as representatives for the families.
The records and discovered that the highest compensation was awarded to a West Bengal resident. His left wrist suffered burns while his right hand was fractured in the accident. According to the regulations, he was entitled to receive Rs 2 lakh but he received Rs 5.4 lakh instead. In three instances, a compensation of Rs 10,000 above the ex-gratia amount was provided.
In 183 instances of fatalities, the Railway Claim Tribunal has awarded a further Rs 8 lakh to every member of the deceased’s family. These families had mentioned that the deceased were the only ones bringing in money for the family. There are still 9 pending petitions in cases involving deaths. This consists of 4 cases reported in Kolkata, 3 in Patna, and 2 in Ranchi. A rejection was made on a case from Kolkata.
At the time of the accident, the railway had declared an award of Rs 10 lakh for the families of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh for the severely injured and disabled, and Rs 50 thousand for the minor injured. During the 16 months following the accident, 76% of the 1102 passengers have sought assistance from the Railway Claim Tribunal in Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Ranchi, Patna, Chennai, and Bhopal for improved compensation.
Families of the deceased have submitted 193 applications, while the injured have filed 648 applications. We would like to inform you that compensation has been provided for the 496 individuals who were injured and the 192 who lost their lives in the incident.
The tribunal was informed by 90 injured individuals that they haven’t been given any compensation by the railways and state governments. Relief was granted to all of them by the Claim Tribunal. The family of each deceased individual has not received compensation from the railways. It should be pointed out that 27 out of 297 deceased individuals remained unidentified.
The railways investigated the involvement of the injured victims in 215 accidents. Evidence verifying their journey has also been requested. 450 injured individuals were found to be ineligible under the law, accounting for 70% of the total cases. This indicates that the individuals impacted were given a lower amount of compensation than what they had asked for.
The railway company reported that they have disbursed a sum of Rs 32.8 crore as compensation to the accident victims. The families of the deceased have received Rs 27 crore, while the injured have been given Rs 5.8 crore. On its website, South Eastern Railway stated that it has disbursed Rs 21.84 crore as compensation in 817 cases as directed by the Railway Claims Tribunal.
The Railway Claims Tribunal’s records also showed that the railways required many injured passengers to provide evidence that they were indeed sitting on the train. An example of this situation was seen in the instance of Mohammad Ahmed Haldar, a native of West Bengal.
Haldar got on the Coromandel Express at Shalimar station in West Bengal without a ticket reservation. He purchased a standard ticket and seated himself on the ground next to the restroom. He sustained injuries to his waist, right arm, and left hand during the accident. Nonetheless, he was not given any payment by the railroad companies. He has additionally submitted a request with the Kolkata Railway Claims Tribunal.
Halder was told to demonstrate that he had been on the train. He responded that his ticket went missing after he left the accident scene. Nevertheless, he later received a payment of 20,000 rupees as compensation.